Maize flour prices have been increased from Sh72 per 2-kg packet to Sh110 in many stores in Nairobi, putting the government on the spot over commitment to make it affordable.



Ruto on the spot over maize scandal
Supermarket managers said they raised their prices due to market trends.

Managers from Tuskys, Woolmart, Nakumatt and Ukwala said millers contracted by the government to sell subsidised flour were not sticking to the prices earlier announced by Agriculture minister William Ruto.

Although the millers were to sell a bundle of 12 packets of two kilogramme at Sh825, they were selling it at more than Sh1,000 to the supermarkets.

The food controversy has been a thorn in the flesh to Mr Ruto following allegations that brokers, including some MPs and well connected people, were allocated maize which they later sold to Southern Sudan or unscrupulous business people.

One of the supermarket managers, Mr Jeremiah Irungu, said the stores are in business and cannot be expected to sell at a loss when millers and suppliers have increased their prices.

A buyer Mr Isaac Njoroge lamented that many people could not afford the flour after the price hike.

Most shoppers also complained that the subsidised flour which was to retail at Sh52 for a 2-kg packet was also unavailable.

Over 10 million Kenyans are facing hunger and the Government has declared it a national disaster.

The issue of maize shortage was last week tabled in Parliament.

The management of the National Cereals and Produce Board was accused of selling maize to brokers which created an artificial shortage, pushing the price of maize meal up.

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May every hunger pang biting on Kenyas children, women and elderly be a curse on 'Honourable' Ruto and his well fed family. May suffering rain on Him so that he learns the pain of a mother watching her children die of hunger.

May Ruto and his cohorts know no peace in life and when dead suffer eternal damnation. May the york of the moon break on the Rutos of this world.

Where is the mob that bayed for Kimunya's blood. Why are you quite when we die of hunger because Ruto ate our maize?

Jambo All,

Here we go again .... all those who ate in the past have not been censured .... so they have come back to the feeding trough .... just like the greedy pigs they all are.

Who will get rid of these politicians for us .... or do we have to wait for 2012

wa Mathira

quote:

Where is the mob that bayed for Kimunya's blood. Why are you quite when we die of hunger because Ruto ate our maize?

Muhuthia
I called for Kimunya's resignition, though my voice carries no weight. In the same spirit, I agree with your curse for shameless Ruto. He was not satisfied with bloodletting during the post election violence.

By rewarding his cronies, he is acelerating poverty, increasing crime and violence which is in turn visited on vulnerable, hungry, peace loving Kenyans

No doubt the victims of post election violence, still traumatizeed by the ordeal are the most affected. He is adding insult to their injuries.

RUTO DOES NOT DESERVE TO LIVE IN THE COMMUNITY OF HUMAN!

The least he can do is to resign.

The least he can do is to resign.

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Ruto should be shot for abetting murder.

Watch this space for double standards.Kimunya was forced to resign before investigations were conducted but now its about ODM vs PNU,this is hogwash! People are dying of hunger while politicians and well connected individuals swim in plenty!

DAILY NATION 17/02/09

A fresh controversy has broken involving 6,500 tonnes of maize detained at the port by the Kenya Bureau of Standards.

The bureau, which is lawfully mandated to ensure the quality of everything that the public consumes, has declared the maize unfit for human consumption.

But other competent government agencies, including the Government Chemist and the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service, say there is absolutely nothing wrong with the maize.

Now a source close to the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) is alleging that it is all part of a clever plan to sell the maize, worth Sh276 million, at a throwaway price as animal feed.

Political survival

The buyer will almost certainly mill it and sell it as ordinary flour at a neat profit, according to the source, who cannot be named without compromising his position.

The new revelations come as Agriculture minister William Ruto, who is fighting for political survival, was questioned by MPs for four hours at Continental House on Monday—from 3pm to 7pm.

The Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture is trying to get to the bottom of the maize scandal which has rocked the cereals board and put Mr Ruto’s career in jeopardy.

Some of his colleagues in the Cabinet have been asking for his resignation and corruption investigators have been called to investigate NCPB.

Also summoned by the MPs were top officials of Kebs and Kephis as well as Agriculture PS Romano Kiome.

The Kephis team, however, was not grilled on Monday but their interviews were pushed to another day. NCPB was represented by lawyers, their technocrats.

The maize, imported from South Africa late last year, has been lying at the port even as 10 million people suffer food shortages. The price of a two-kilogramme packet of maize flour is retailing at a high of Sh120 in most parts of the country.

Kephis, the Government Chemist and Kebs were on Monday still not in agreement on whether the maize should be released to the consumer, three months later.

Two private companies have certified the maize, part of an 8,100-tonne consignment bought by the cereals board, as fit to eat.

The Nation learnt that NCPB, on the advise of Kebs, had declined to have the maize off-loaded and wanted it shipped back to South Africa “based on the level of discoloration.’’

An MP who was at the meeting said of the fresh twist: “We believe the maize is good for human consumption but somebody somewhere is trying to be clever.’’

The chairman of the committee, Mr John Mututho, declined to give details of the meeting, saying only that Mr Ruto had shed a lot of light on the matter.
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They are playing around with food while we die of hunger! There is no end to greed.

Jambo All,

These politicians are doing more than eating our maize. The Chairman of the probe team on this particular issue should be in jail for the money that he stole from Kenyatta National Hospital. The case of the thief probing the thief.

wa Mathira

Its a system of using the thief to catch the thief.Even if an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth will lead to a nation of Blind and toothless people, am in support of it. They can probably lead us to some where.