Bumula member of parliament (MP) Jack Wamboka on Thursday April 25, 2024 filed a motion of impeachment against Agriculture cabinet secretary (CS) Mithika Linturi over the fake fertilizer saga.
Speaking during a press briefing at Parliament buildings in Nairobi, Wamboka stated that he has a backing of 110 MPs.
“The motion is backed by 110 MPs and therefore we shall start deliberation next week,” said Wamboka.
“We are asking the Speaker to approve this motion and MPs to support the motion,” he added.
Wamboka also urged President William Ruto to take action and save Kenyan farmers from the supply of fake fertiliser in the country.
At the same time, Laikipia North MP Sarah Korere urged the Agriculture CS to step aside and pave way for investigations into the fake fertilizer saga.
Korere explained that Linturi has failed Kenyans and therefore he has no moral authority to lead the Agriculture Ministry.
The impeachment motion against Linturi was filed a few days after President William Ruto promised to take action against fraudsters selling fake fertiliser to farmers in the country.
The president made the remarks on April 8, during his tour at the Eldoret National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) depot, where he witnessed the distribution of subsidized fertiliser to farmers.
“We will deal with fraudsters trying to undermine our food production program by selling fake fertilizer,” he stated.
Meanwhile, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) on March 20, 2024 exposed a scam of selling fake fertilizer to unsuspecting farmers in Kakamega County.
This was after over 700 bags of the fake product were impounded on March 19 at a storage facility in Malava.
Nathan Malewa, is one of the farmers counting losses, after discovering that the eight bags each containing 25 kilograms of fertilizers were instead made up of stones.
“I came here (Malava) on 5th of this month, lined up and bought eight bags weighing 25 kilos each. I even have the receipt. Later I heard that the fertilizer we purchased is fake. Since I had not used mine, I cut open one of the bags, poured some into a plate and added water. Normal fertilizer would dissolve but this one, it was just stones,” Malewa narrated.
