Kiunjuri feels the heat in maize payment scam probe

Nine months ago on February 1, 2018, a bubbly Festus Mwangi Kiunjuri strolled into the Agriculture ministry head office at Kilimo House.

He was taking over as minister of a prestigious docket with a massive budget of Sh16.4billion for the 2018/19 fiscal year.

President Uhuru Kenyatta’s switching of Mr Kiunjuri from the Devolution docket to Agriculture was read by many pundits as a vote of confidence in him, given the high significance of farming to the country’s economy.

Notably, his transfer to the ministry coincided with turbulent times due to a prolonged drought that had affected farming and left thousands facing starvation. The ministry was at the time also facing pressure over irregular payment of money to maize importers at the expense of local farmers who had supplied their produce to the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB).

With this kind of mess, Kiunjuri inadvertently walked into a role of “Mr Fix-it” as he took over from his predecessor Willy Bett who had been dropped from the docket to assume a new role as Kenya’s Ambassador to India.

But months into his tenure as Agriculture CS, Mr Kiunjuri finds himself a man under siege amid pressure from farmers demanding payment of dues for deliveries made to the NCPB.

His tribulations have escalated to a political landmine amid growing calls for his resignation, especially after being admonished publicly by President Kenyatta.

In under three weeks, the President has twice lambasted Mr Kiunjuri for allegedly failing to deal with cartels in the agriculture ministry.

His first public attack on the minister was on October 4 during the official opening of this year’s Nairobi International Trade Fair.

Mr Kiunjuri again found himself on the receiving end on October 20 when the President accused his ministry of undermining local farmers by using traders to import maize and paying them large sums of money at the expense of local farmers.

“The time for jokes is over. Look for those stealing public resources, bring them we take them to jail or you (Kiunjuri) will find yourself in trouble over these issues,” the President said during this year’s Mashujaa Day celebrations at the Bukhungu Stadium in Kakamega.

Ruffled by the attacks that have drawn choruses for his resignation, Mr Kiunjuri on Wednesday held a press conference at Kilimo House “to set the record straight” and vowed to carry on with his role as minister.

On Thursday, the Minister appeared before a committee of the National Senate that is seeking to unravel circumstances under which the traders were paid about Sh9.4 billion for imported maize while local farmers have not been paid money totalling Sh3 billion. But even with the mounting pressure from the President and political rivals, Mr Kiunjuri maintained he would carry on with his fight against cartels.

“The President has simply urged me to remain alert and deal with the cartels that have for a long time thrived in this ministry. The President has assured me that he means well in the public jabs that he has directed my way. He trusts me to assist him achieve his food sufficiency agenda and that is why he is pitting me against the cartels, assured that he supports me,” he told Business Daily.

“I am dealing with entrenched impunity and godfathers who have remained the shield against any action against the corrupt in this ministry. But all in all, I will devise a way of making heads roll,” he added.

The 59-year-old former MP, who also served as an assistant minister in the Grand Coalition Government of Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga, however admits that the maize scandal has left him in a precarious position politically.

“The media has ganged up with my political enemies to scheme for my downfall,” says Mr Kiunjuri, the second-last born in a family of 12 and a father of two.

He admits that he feels the heat “but not hot enough to consume me.”

“I am a self-made politician who has risen from hawker and eventually a tout…This is nothing but a passing cloud and I will sail through,” he said.

Despite the widespread tradition of politicians being defended by people especially from their ethnic backyard during such circumstances, Mr Kiunjuri has so far remained isolated—raising concern over his relation with other leaders from the wider Mt Kenya region where he hails from.

Nyeri Senator Ephraim Maina confirms there is bad blood between the minister and many leaders from Mount Kenya.

“Kiunjuri has been playing his politics as a lone ranger and remains accused of usurping powers he never had, presenting himself as a power broker,” claimed Mr Maina.

Mr Kiunjuri previously served as a primary school teacher before he joined politics in 1997 to be elected MP for Laikipia East, a position he held till 2013 when he vied for the gubernatorial seat for Laikipia and lost before eventually being appointed as Devolution Secretary in 2015 and now the Agriculture CS.