NCPB yet to recover 7 stores: Official

The National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) is yet to repossess seven stores in Kitale.

One month ago, Agriculture CS Mwangi Kiunjuri (above) ordered the agency to cancel lease agreements it had entered into with traders using the stores.

Repossessing the stores, Kiunjuri said, is meant to create more space for farmers to deliver maize in ongoing efforts to avoid post-harvest wastage.

“I direct that the lease entered between the board and the individuals be cancelled. Farmers should be given first priority in the use of public stores. The five stores should be repossessed as soon as possible,” the CS said when he visited Kitale.

But the Standard has established the board is yet to revoke the leases over a legal hurdle.

Kitale NCPB depot manager Kenneth Charo said the stores had not been recovered due to legal challenges.

Legal department

“The stores are still in the hands of the traders who leased them. We are yet to recover them as directed by the CS but our legal department is working on the best way possible to revoke the leases and repossess the stores,” Charo told The Standard.

The official admitted it will take time before the board to cancel the contracts. He said they will follow a legal procedure to have the stores back.

“I cannot tell when the stores will be reverted to us. None of the users is ready to surrender the stores because the lease contracts are still binding,” he said.

Some of the stores were leased to traders over two decades ago and are being used as hard wares and go-downs.

Last month, the Government announced it would start buying maize from farmers at Sh2,300 per 90 kg bag but the exercise has not kicked due to lack of space to store new stocks.

Kitale depot is still holding huge maize stocks from last season. The stocks are supposed to be taken out to create space.

Local leaders, including Cherangany MP Joshua Kuttuny, have been pilling pressure on the Government to open local depots to allow farmers deliver their produce.