Raila Odinga, the leader of Azimio la Umoja, has criticized President William Ruto for his subsidised fertiliser initiative aimed at increasing food production in the country.
Raila told a roadside rally in Magena, Kisii County, on Sunday that Ruto is misleading Kenyans by claiming that he is subsidizing the fertilizer.
“Ruto is lying to Kenyans that he has brought down the cost of fertiliser to help farmers. That fertiliser was given for free by the Russian government, but now he is selling it at Ksh2,500.” Raila claimed.
The Azimio leader went on to claim that the subsidized fertilizer had been tainted with sand in order to increase its quantity and allow rogue government officials to make more money from unsuspecting Kenyans.
“They added sand to the fertiliser to increase its quantity. The agricultural functions were devolved and should be left to the county governments to handle them. Stop taking away functions of the county governments, instead, send money to the counties for them to run their operations smoothly,” Raila added.
He also chastised the national government for asking county governments to fund its projects, claiming that governors are not allowed to carry out their constitutional mandates.
Ruto urged farmers across the country to redouble their use of government-subsidized fertilizers distributed by the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) in order to increase production and lower the country’s high cost of living.
“We expect significant high uptake of the subsidized fertilizer, and we are appealing to our farmers to redouble the use of 50kg bags of fertilizer per acre in order to get more yields ranging from 20 to 25 bags harvested per acre,” he said.
