Maize shortage: The questions that won’t go away just yet

Conflicting statements from high-ranking government officials on the maize that arrived in the country a few days ago only deepen the mystery surrounding the importation.

Initially, the maize was reported to have come from Mexico, yet the time it would take a ship from a Mexican port to Mombasa did not correspond with the date on which Parliament's zero-rated maize imports to help counter a shortage that has driven the prices of flour through the roof.

Technology has placed information at the fingertips of an inquisitive public. Having established that it would take longer for a ship to make a trip from Mexico to Kenya, Kenyans started asking questions, convinced that only cartels could work such magic and shorten the period to five days.

A belated clarification from the government said the maize came from a South African grain store, part of the country's earlier imports from Mexico to address a shortage. But even that appears not to add up because placing an order and loading a ship with the grain would ideally take days.

Having been touted as a government initiative to counter the maize shortage, it was only natural that Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Willy Bett would meet the consignment at the port of Mombasa.

Then after many questions were asked, it was later clarified that the maize was imported by private millers, which raises the question: why did the government send the CS to receive the ship and make a great show of it?

There are many questions around the maize importation that need to be cleared. Millers had warned of a grain shortage last year. Why did the government export more than was good for the country's food security? What is the return on the investment in the Sh14 billion Galana/Kulalu project, which was supposed the put a million acres under irrigation and solve Kenya's food security problems? Was there ever Chinese government maize aid to Kenya? These are questions that need answers.