•The opposition wants heads to roll at the Kenya Bureau of Standards and the National Cereals and Produce Board.
•Kebs confirmed that fake subsidised fertiliser is on the market and sold by the government-controlled NCPB.
Image: FILE
The opposition on Friday demanded the sacking of Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mithika Linturi and his Trade counterpart Rebecca Miano if they won’t resign over the fake fertiliser seized by Kebs recently.
The Minority team wants President William Ruto to swing into action so the two take "full responsibility”.
“They must take full responsibility of the confusion that is being witnessed and resign with immediate effect,” National Assembly Minority leader Opiyo Wandayi said.
“Failure to resign by these top government officials, the appointing authority must swing into action and sack them forthwith,” he said in a press statement.
The opposition wants more heads to roll, including officers at the Kenya Bureau of Standards and National Cereals and Produce Board, who had direct responsibility for the fertiliser, seeds and certification.
“They must immediately quit their positions and pave way for proper and professional investigation,” the Azimio la Umoja-allied lawmaker said.
Wandayi called for the prosecution of officers and private individuals responsible for the fake fertiliser and the same be charged with sabotage and engagement in organised criminal activity.
On Wednesday this week, Kebs confirmed that fake subsidised fertiliser is on the market and sold by the government-controlled NCPB.
The agency recently told MPs that it had impounded 5,840 bags of the fake fertiliser bearing their standardisation marks.
Following the revelations, Azimio wants the government to change tact in the procurement of the crucial farm input.
“The government must immediately devise new ways to procure, secure and distribute quality fertilisers and seeds to farmers who are running out of time,” Wandayi said.
“Because relevant institutions have failed, we propose that the task of procuring and distributing seeds and fertilisers be outsourced to the Kenya Defence Forces,” the opposition team says.
He said it defeats logic that the government is spending billions on subsidised fertiliser, which end up in the wrong hands.
“Our expenditure on fertiliser subsidy is money gone to waste if that same fertiliser is being hijacked by cartels, mixed with stones and all sorts of plant poison and sold expensively to farmers while the government watches,” he said.
The ODM MP said the events were deliberately planned, coordinated and enabled by people in government “through acts of commission or omission”.
“The price for economic sabotage is not what the President calls music or scary warnings,” the lawmaker said.
Following the shocking revelations, President Ruto ordered the government machinery to crush those behind the distribution of the fake substance.
“We are going to make sure those who sell fake fertilisers face the music that they deserve,” the President warned.