Agriculture CS Willy Bett has said he will not step down despite frantic calls by MPs to do so for allegedly mismanaging his docket.
“I still have a lot to do and my work will not cut out,” he told the Star on phone.
He said he has the mandate to ensure the prices of maize, sugar and milk drastically comes down.
“The calls will not cut my desire to lower down the prices of Unga.”
On Friday, a cross section of MPs asked President Uhuru Kenyatta to sack the CS or ask him to step aside voluntarily.
They gave a four-day ultimatum or they will call for mass action.The members of Agriculture committee said Bett has mismanaged his docket, a claim he refuted and termed as misleading.
Vice chairman Kareke Mbiuki on Friday accused Bett of lying to the nation when he appeared before them in February.
He claimed Bett said the country's strategic food reserve had two million 90-kg bags of maize that would have lasted for eight months, but all over sudden, there were shortages and imports.
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But the CS denied and said he informed the committee that available bags of maize could have only lasted until this month.
“With the right opportunity, I will confirm what they are saying is not true. They will call me to explain,” he said.
MP Opiyo Wandayi (Ugunja) questioned why after just 24 hours when a section of Supplementary Bill was read to allow importation, there was a ship already docked at the port of Mombasa with 29,900 metric tonne of yellow maize from Mexico.
He said such trip takes not less than two weeks.
The MP said this proved the government has been working in cohorts with maize cartels.
But Bett said they had allowed millers to import maize two months ago or more, after the duty was waived.
On March 30, Treasury CS Henry Rotich waived duty on imported maize and wheat for four months to cause a significant drop in the skyrocketing prices.
Maize from the east African regions attracts a 10 percent duty while imports from outside the EAC attract a 50 per cent VAT.
The CS said the first consignment of maize that arrived on Thursday from Mexico was late as it should have been in the country before the supplementary budget was tabled.
Only the finance section of the budget has been put through the first reading. Status quo still remains.
“Arrival of the ship is not related at all to the supplementary budget. Some millers made arrangement to import immediately after we asked them. We even think they were slow because it [consignment] should have been here much earlier,” he said.
The CS said by next week he will announce the new price of 2kg packet of Unga.
Bett said pricing is determined by the natural force of demand and supply.
He said drought affected the supply.
Drought is a natural phenomenon.
But the opposition says there was hoarding which caused an artificial shortage.
“The issue of pricing is known to all of us. There was a scarcity of the commodity and the prices were expected to rise,” he said.
Bet said the most important thing was how the state was handling the situation and according to him, she is doing well.
“By next week the prices of Unga will go down,” he said without elaborating by how much.
He said the government should not be castigated for opting to import maize when the country had the ability to feed itself.
“Whenever there is scarcity, it's obvious that we import. We have really taken drastic measures,” he said.
On Friday in a gazette notice, Rotich said imported sugar will be duty-free.
Milk processors will on their part pay no duty on imported milk powder with effect from the date of the notice to July 31, 2017.