Some 107 bags of fake fertilizers have been discovered in Homa Bay as push for impeachment of Agriculture CS Mithika Linturi continues.
The parliamentary committee led by Nyando MP Jared Okello, his Geoffrey Odanga (Matayos) and Peter Salasya (Mumias East) who were in company of Governor Gladys Wanga visited the NCPB depot in Homa Bay town where they discovered the anomalies.
The committee 107 bags of fertilizers of GPC type that was in the depot were found to be fake.
Okello said the fake fertilizers had been put aside in the depot to prevent farmers from purchasing them.
“We’ve discovered that the fake fertilizers were brought to Homa Bay. A farmer had raised complaints after buying six bags of the fertilizers,” Okello said.
Speaking after doing inspections at Homa town depot on Saturday, the leaders said a total of 63 bags of the GPC fertilizer had been sold in Homa Bay.
They called for a stop of selling the remaining fertilizers in the depot.
“It is evident that there are fake fertilizers in this NCPB depot. I encourage farmers who bought fake fertilizers to report,” he said.
The parliamentary committee members said they are going to compile their report which will determine the extent to which the fake fertilizers had infiltrated NCPB depots and farms in the country.
Salasya said their findings will also determine whether more voices should come out to support impeachment of CS Linturi.
“CS Linturi was summoned in parliament and said he was not aware of existence of the fake fertilizers.We’ve now discovered them in NCPB depots and once investigations is complete we’ll recommend what should be done to him,” Salasya said.
Wanga expressed concerns that Homa Bay got a fewer bags of fertilizers than what was recommended. However, part of the few bags turned out fake.
She said Homa registered 245,000 farmers who ought to have got 165 million bags.
But the county received only 23,000 bags.
“Homa Bay was expecting to receive bags worth sh165 million but what we got was shockingly too low. What is aggravates the matter is that part of the fertilizers were fake,” Wanga said.
She told the Ministry of Agriculture to ensure Homa Bay gets the share of fertilizers it deserves.
“Homa Bay is among the top counties which registered the highest number of farmers. We want to be given the quantity of fertilizers we deserve,” Wanga said.
The governor said agriculture is a devolved function that requires the funds for subsidised fertilizers to be given to counties to purchase for their farmers.
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