The maize dispute had become a political flashpoint in the North Rift, with leaders tying the row to the 2022 succession debate and to complaints from farmers over prices, payments and input shortages.
Three MPs — Silas Tiren of Moiben, Alfred Keter of Nandi Hills and Joshua Kuttuny of Cherangany — accused Deputy President William Ruto’s allies of being connected to maize worth billions of shillings that was delivered to the National Cereals and Produce Board under questionable circumstances. People close to the Deputy President rejected the claims.
The lawmakers made their remarks at the TAC centre in Eldoret town, where farmers protested the Strategic Food Reserve Fund Board’s decision to set the price of a 90kg bag of maize at Sh2,300 for that year’s harvest. The MPs and farmers wanted Sh3,600 per bag and threatened to march to State House Nairobi if the government did not respond.
The Strategic Food Reserve Fund Board was planning to buy 2.4 million bags at Sh2,300 each, but the MPs said the offer was too low and insisted farmers should receive between Sh3,200 and Sh3,600. They also pressed the government to question the Deputy President over the wider maize crisis in the region.
Keter, Kuttuny and Tiren alleged, without providing evidence, that the Deputy President, his office and his associates were linked to maize imported from Mexico and to subsidised fertiliser. They also said cartels had brought in maize after the import window had closed and stored it in NCPB silos, which they claimed were already full when opened. Kuttuny said, “We want the Government to investigate the DP over the maize scandal. Before you tell us to move to avocado farming, tell us what has gone wrong with maize farming,” while Keter said, “Stop telling us about the 2022 succession politics and stop threatening some us for speaking about farmers’ troubles. You (the DP) and your people are involved in cheap maizeimports and fake fertiliser and if we are wrong, then come out and say the truth.”
The row also increased pressure on Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mwangi Kiunjuri, who had already been criticised twice in public by President Uhuru Kenyatta. Sources from the Agriculture ministry said the President may have effectively shifted blame to Kiunjuri by ordering him to confront the greed of powerful politicians in the Jubilee Party.
Farmers’ frustrations were not limited to prices. They complained about delayed payment for maize supplied to the NCPB, poor distribution of inputs, high production costs and shrinking profits. Many said subsidised planting and top-dressing fertiliser was unavailable when needed, forcing them to buy from traders at higher prices or use less fertiliser, which reduced yields.
At the time, farmers were still owed more than Sh2.1 billion for last year’s maize deliveries, with repeated promises from state officials yet to be fulfilled. Jackson Kwambai, a farmer from Moiben, said the delays had pushed him to reduce acreage and consider horticulture instead. He said, “We have no alternative but to venture into horticulture. The Government might be forced to import food to replenish the Strategic Food Reserves after the current season,” adding that even the Deputy President’s promise had not produced results.
Kipkorir Menjo, a Kenya Farmers Association director, said the government needed to protect both consumers and producers from exploitation. He argued that investigations should not spare any leader if there was a case to answer, saying, “Even the President said he can be investigated. Nobody will pin you down if you know you are clean,” and urged the government to “pull up its socks” by improving agriculture funding and fixing pricing and marketing systems.
Menjo also said farmers planned to seek an appointment with President Uhuru Kenyatta to discuss the problems facing the sector and push for lasting solutions. Separately, the Senate ad hoc committee on the maize crisis, co-chaired by Uasin Gishu Senator Margaret Kamar and Moses Wetang’ula of Bungoma, had not yet completed its inquiry or tabled findings. In September, farmers had already aired similar grievances before senators at the Uasin Gishu county hall in Eldoret, asking who the unnamed cartels in the cereals sector were.
The farmers said the crisis had been worsened by delayed payments, weak access to subsidised fertiliser and the high cost of production. Some in Uasin Gishu said they were considering cutting maize acreage in the next planting season because the sector had become unpredictable.
