Deputy president Rigathi Gachagua has stated that the earliest the government can get cheap maize is from Zambia which is the largest maize producer in September.
He stated that Kenya engaged the Zambian government to decide on a government-to-government programme to enable the importation of the maize and the earliest they can get the maize in September
While speaking on the importation of cheap maize to cushion the shortage of the valuable commodity in the country during a round table with the media yesterday, Gachagua lamented that cheap maize for importation is not available anywhere in the world.
“The Cs for Agriculture and the PS were in Zambia that produces maize and there’s no maize available. The only maize that is available is in South Africa and we are in competition with Angola nad Rwanda for the same maize,” he said.
The government in December announced that it would allow the importation of 10 million bags of maize to curb the shortage that has seen the cost of flour remain high in the market on the back of the high cost of the grain.
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The State noted that it will allow traders to ship in the commodity outside the regional market duty-free between February and August this year, just two months before the onset of the main harvest in October.
The Dp now says the government decided not to import duty-free maize because they did not want corruption.
“The government doesn’t want to get involved in importation directly because we do not want scandals. we don’t want people in government to do business,” he added
Therefore the government resolved to advertise for millers and other people interested in importing the maize to apply for and get permits to import duty-free maize.
However, the DP lamented that in three months since the directive, the importers have been unable to import maize because they are in competition for the same maize with other governments.
“There’s a problem of maize availability everywhere in the world,” he said.
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