Jubilee will regret political consequences of maize crisis

This week, the government admitted that the ongoing food crisis caught them off-guard, thus confirming what most analysts had feared. The Principal Secretary for Agriculture admitted that the government knew of a looming maize shortage well in advance, but did nothing.

Instead of allowing imports and beefing up its strategic reserves at reasonable prices, it opted to serve the interest of the middlemen who buy maize from farmers and distribute to millers and other markets. The delay in imports and the failure to stock up on enough maize has now rendered tens of thousands of households food insecure.