Sh26 billion maize mystery: Questions swirl over opaque import tender

A wilting maize plantation in Sergoit, Uasin Gishu County, in July 2026. [Stephen Rutto, Standard]

As Kenya races to secure maize after its worst production shortfall in years, a Sh26 billion deal to import 540,000 metric tonnes from Zambia has thrust a little-known private company into the centre of the country’s food security crisis — raising questions over who selected the importer, how the deal was structured and how much the public will ultimately pay.

Baita Trading Company Ltd, whose core businesses includes real estate, alcohol importation and hospitality, signed the deal with Zambia’s Food Reserve Agency to deliver the maize in six shipments over 18 months.

Its owner, businessman Henry Mwingirwa, insists the transaction is a legitimate commercial venture and denies acting as a proxy for government officials.

But the arrangement has come under scrutiny because, contrary to earlier suggestions of a government-to-government deal, the contract was signed with a private Kenyan entity. The price will be determined shipment by shipment, while the public has not been shown the mechanism governing the prices.

The Cereal Millers Association, which represents Kenya’s flour processors, had petitioned Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe for a nine-month duty-free waiver to import three million tonnes of white maize, arguing millers needed time to secure financing, contracts and shipping for grain they would mill themselves.

Then at the time, Baita Trading emerged as the single largest private sourcing company, with an allocation that accounts for close to a quarter of the 25 million bags Kenya says it needs.

Mwingirwa said he has been in business for decades and has no need to act on behalf of anyone else.

“Anyone has freedom to do business in Kenya. The market is wide,” he said. “We have a serious deficit. I’m not doing this for anyone. I am a legitimate businessman. I am not a front for anyone.”

Mwingira is also seeking the Tigania East seat in next year’s election.

The deal, which will see Zambia ship 100,000 tonnes of maize every three months over 18 months, has attracted scrutiny since similar import arrangements in the past have been dogged by questions over procurement transparency and value for money.

Critics have asked why a private entity with no prior public record in the grain business was allowed to import on behalf of the state, with one unnamed official saying: “We know the owners of this company are linked to top government officials.”

Mwingirwa denied the claims, saying his company responded to a market need created by Kenya’s worst maize production shortfall in years.

Baita Trading’s core businesses are listed as real estate, alcohol importation and hospitality, not grain milling or trading.

The deal has revived memories of past maize import scandals. In 2025, Parliament’s Agriculture Committee found that an inter-ministerial committee failed to control import volumes, with 14.5 million bags imported against a target of 10 million, and the Kenya Bureau of Standards flagging substandard grain containing aflatoxins.

Mwingirwa said his company is a private-sector buyer and does not represent the Kenyan government, a position echoed by Baita director Martin Kinoti during the signing in Lusaka.

Critics note that if the State effectively nominated the company, underwrote the purchase, awarded an exclusive import waiver, or plans to buy the cargo into public reserves, it becomes a de facto public procurement arrangement. Kenyan law permits direct procurement only under limited conditions and not to avoid competition.

Zambian officials have defended the arrangement. Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet Siazongo Siakalenge said the deal will help Zambia earn foreign exchange while creating a reliable market for farmers’ produce, following a bumper harvest of more than 5.1 million tonnes.

Kenya is facing a projected maize deficit of 5.4 million 90kg bags. Rains in June and July were the lowest in the western grain-producing regions since 1980. The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has slashed Kenya’s 2026/27 production forecast by 51 per cent to 2.2 million metric tonnes, from an initial projection of 4.5 million, a report seen by The Standard shows.

“This shortfall will force Kenya to import a record 2.3 million MT of corn,” the USDA report, authored by Kennedy Gitonga and Allan Kimitei, warned.

A bag of maize has surged to around Sh4,500 in local markets, fuelling food inflation that has become a political flashpoint ahead of next year’s General Election.

Prices under the Zambia deal will be set shipment by shipment, according to the contract, a mechanism the public has not been shown.

Even as a controversial Sh26 billion maize import deal between Kenyan businessman Mwingira and Zambia’s Food Reserve Agency is set to materialize, more questions than answers have emerged over how the grain will be stored and sold locally.

The Standard could not immediately establish where Mr Mwingira will store his maize or his plan to offload it into the Kenyan market.

Mwingira, maintained he is a private businessman and it follows then that he has no obligation to account for his business secrets. He dismissed allegations that he is fronting for government officials, insisting his firm, Baita Trading Company Limited, is simply seizing a commercial opportunity.

The Standard has learned that some millers are not overly happy with the deal, saying they should be facilitated to spearhead or champion maize imports given their direct role in processing. The Cereal Millers Association did not comment on The Standard’s queries by press time.

But the private businessman said it is a free market and anyone can take advantage of the huge deficit. He said the country was projected to have a more significant deficit hence the need for urgent maize, noting that keen traders can import from markets such as Ukraine. He said he would sell to willing buyers on a willing-seller basis.

The deal has revived scrutiny over procurement transparency, especially after past maize import scandals, some millers said privately.

Prices under the Zambia contract will be set shipment by shipment, a mechanism the public has not been shown.

Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe did not respond to The Standard's queries by press time despite promising to do so.

The political stakes could not be higher. President William Ruto is navigating the final year of his first term, and the soaring cost of living, driven by food inflation, was a core grievance of the Gen Z protests that rocked the country in 2024 and 2025.

The politics of unga is once again taking centre stage ahead of the 2027 presidential election campaigns.

Ugali, the beloved staple of Kenyan tables, is going to be on the agenda in next year’s election.

The government has spent more than Sh34 billion on fertiliser subsidies over the past three financial years and budgeted a further Sh18 billion this year, bringing the total commitment to over Sh52 billion. Yet the nation’s staple remains hostage to the rains.

The National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) is also partnering with Kenya Seed Company to distribute subsidised maize seeds at Sh150 per kilogramme across its network, and has waived grain drying charges to support farmers in reducing post-harvest losses.

The board is working with the State Department for Special Programmes and county governments in the distribution of food and non-food relief items to those who may be affected by anticipated El Niño rains.

In a further sign of desperation, the government is considering allowing duty-free imports of 360,000 metric tonnes of yellow maize, strictly designated for animal feed, to preserve scarce white maize for human consumption.

But food security experts warn the systems underpinning Kenya’s maize policy have been flawed for years and the current crisis is the predictable result.

“The systems have been flawed. We have been managing this crisis from one harvest to the next without ever fixing the fundamentals,” said Dr Timothy Njagi in an interview with The Standard.

Njagi, a research fellow at the Tegemeo Institute of Agricultural Policy and Development, has spent over a decade documenting the cyclical failures of Kenya’s maize policy.

“Maize prices typically climb between January and May, peaking when stored supplies tighten just before the next harvest. But this year, the collapse came earlier and deeper than anyone anticipated.”

Njagi cautioned that NCPB’s efforts to rebuild reserves by purchasing from farmers may struggle to attract sufficient volumes, as many smallholders already sold their stocks earlier in the season to meet expenses and service debts.

“Farmers may hold back from delivering to NCPB depots if private traders are offering similar or better prices directly at the farm gate, especially once transport and handling costs are factored in,” he said.

“This dynamic has been observed before, with farmers sometimes opting to sell to traders rather than deliver to NCPB depots, particularly when board payments are perceived to be slow or cumbersome,” he added.

NCPB chief executive Samuel Karogo the board is in the process of rebuilding the strategic grain reserves. “We are currently purchasing locally available maize with the objective of rebuilding the Strategic Food Reserve,” said Karogo, who was confirmed substantive CEO in June.

The agency has opened all depots to intake maize at Sh4,000 per 90kg bag and is offering storage space for millers and commercial grain handlers at subsidised rates to boost national stock levels.

Karogo, who previously served as NCPB’s general manager of finance and accounting, said the board is planning to distribute 12.5 million bags of assorted subsidised fertilisers during the 2026/2027 season, with an additional 2.5 million bags in the pipeline.