Deputy President William Ruto’s announcement that Sh50 billion will be injected into the Galana Kulalu food security project is not a good idea.
Many anxious Kenyans will ask why they should subsidise a failing giant project like Galana and not small-scale farmers across the country.
This money would be much better spent elsewhere and the Galana Kulalu land leased to a private operator.
If the Sh50 billion were instead given to smallholders across the country, say at Sh1 billion per county, it would go into good seeds and extension services and they would actually produce food crops and even bumper harvests and beef production.
Galana Kulalu has had a chequered history right from its pilot projects. It includes beef and vegetable projects.
In the end, if a mega project proves to be anything but feasible, there is no point throwing good money after bad.
Government would do well to rethink the Sh50 billion subvention to a giant project that has proven to be a serial failure.
