President William Ruto’s narrative about Kenya harvesting more maize this year is untrue, former Cabinet Minister Kipruto Arap Kirwa says.
Last month, President Ruto told Kenyans that food prices had begun to decrease, linking this to a bumper harvest expected this year.
Speaking in Kiambu, he said Kenya is expecting a total production of 61 million bags, up from 44 million bags harvested last year.
“Last year, we harvested 44 million bags because farmers could not afford high fertilizer costs at the time. This year, however, due to the intervention measures we have put in place, including subsidizing fertilizer costs, we expect the harvest to increase from 44 million bags to 61 million bags,” he said.
But Kirwa now says that the truth of the matter is that even in Trans Nzoia County, the country’s biggest maize producer, there is no such maize.
“Go to the entire Coast, there is no maize. Event Trans Nzoia where I come from, If you see the colour of the maize is different from what we call a bumper harvest and yet we are pretending and telling the public to prepare for bumper harvest,” he said on Friday as quoted by The Star.
Kirwa, a former Ruto ally, has told the Head of State that Kenyans are getting tired of his lies and it is time he became honest and said things as they are.
The politician who served as Ruto’s UDA Party Secretary General before the 2022 election, said not even the ongoing rains can save the situation.
“We are getting tired of lies. Where does he expect the maize to be harvested from? Even Laikipia today it’s raining but lost the first crop,” he said.
