SACK THEM

The Chairman of the Parliamentary, Departmental Committee on Agriculture, John Mututho is appealing to President Mwai Kibaki to crack the whip on errant public servants implicated in the importation of contaminated maize into the country.

"The President should take drastic measures and deal with those that have put the lives of Kenyans in danger through allowing the importation of the maize and clearing it at the port of Mombasa into the country," said Mututho in an interview with Channel One.

Mututho said the distribution of relief maize believed to be contaminated in parts of Rift Valley province amounts to mass murder.

He urged the President to order the withdrawal of the maize and its destruction.

Mututho who said the government could have lost in excess of Kshs 30 billion through the importation of the consignment, said their could be worse health complications as a result when the problem manifests itself in the public that consumed the products processed from the contaminated maize including floor.

Mututho said high ranking people within the Prime Minister's office and the National Cereals and Produce Board - NCPB who are responsible for the importation of contaminated maize into the country should be axed from government for endangering the lives of Kenyans.

Mututho who displayed samples of the contaminated maize got from the NCPB silo in Nakuru said, drying of the maize that contained high moisture of up to 15 per cent at importation, could not rid the maize of the aflatoxins and other dangerous contents that are fatal if consumed.

The Chairman asked government machinery to swing into action and withdraw all the maize distributed in parts of Rift Valley and Central Province that originated from a supply by MV Siam Opal code, 1026.

He called for investigations to identify milling companies that could have sourced their maize from Nakuru saying they could be selling floor from suspect maize to unsuspecting consumers. He urged the Minister of Finance to increase budgetary allocation to the Ministry of Agriculture in order to ensure food security.

"Kenya is a signatory to the Maputo Declaration, but funding to the Ministry that is supposed to ensure that food production is increased is not even mentioned in the current budget policy statement," he wondered.

Saying that the maize scam is much bigger than what might have been reported, Mututho urged for speedy action by the government.