Agriculture Principal Secretary Richard Lesiyampe denied media reports claiming the National Treasury was sabotaging efforts to mitigate the severe drought affecting the country.
Lesiyampe stated that addressing the drought required a joint effort from all government agencies and private sector players. He noted that the agriculture department had received KES 3.2 billion in the current financial year to purchase maize for the strategic food reserve. Out of this allocation, the government had bought 1.4 million bags of maize.
Appearing before the National Assembly Committee on Agriculture to discuss the supplementary budget, Lesiyampe dismissed the media reports as inaccurate, stating he was misquoted. He emphasized that the issue at hand was not the availability of funds from the National Treasury but rather the reluctance of farmers to sell maize due to the prices offered by the government.
Lesiyampe clarified,
"That is a serious statement that is not true and I did not utter those words. I was there to discuss the supplementary budget in the state agriculture department,"
adding that the National Treasury's role was not relevant in this context. He further pointed out that drought is a natural disaster and cannot be attributed to any government agency's actions.
The recovered account cited reporting by Mediamax.
