Greedy traders, rich farmers fight for control of NCPB billions

Farmers demonstrate at the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) Eldoret Depot over the delay to remit payment for maize delivered by the farmers. They noted that the move by the government to import maize from Uganda was going to hurt farmers whose maize is yet to be taken by the NCPB. 22-03-2018.

On April 17, the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) carried a small advert in the local dailies. Few readers noticed it. Even fewer appreciated its enormity. But a scandal was brewing.

NCPB, the Government’s store for maize and wheat, was offloading 653,496 90-kilogram bags of maize to millers at a price of Sh2,300. This, said the NCPB, was part of a “grain refreshing exercise.” Perhaps it was, perhaps it was not.