Government owe millers Sh2.57billion under subsidy program amid sanctioned duty free maize importation

The government is yet to pay 129 millers Sh2.57 billion for the last year’s maize subsidy program amid sanctioned importation of duty free maize window currently in force and being enjoyed by secretly contracted traders whose identity remains undisclosed to the public.

The window was to open earlier in the month and the government had given an undertaking of gazetting the names before February 6, 2023.

In December last year, the government said it will allow millers and traders to ship in at least 10 million bags of maize to curb the deficit that has seen the cost of flour remain high and by then, at least 250 traders had applied for the licenses.

However, the importers who have since been approved are yet to be gazetted.

In mid-2022, former President Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration introduced a subsidy program to cushion Kenyans from high prices of maize flour.

It came after the price of a two-kilogram bag of flour increased to Sh230 from Sh100 previously. Millers were to sell maize flour at a subsidy rate of Sh100.

In total, millers sold Sh4.34 billion, of which the state paid Sh1.77 billion, leaving Sh2.57 billion in arrears.

The Cereal Millers Association (CMA) is now asking the government to release the remaining amount.

“The CMA has been in communication and is still consulting with the Treasury and other relevant government ministries to address all matters related to the Maize Subsidy Program and is urging the Government to pay millers their outstanding amounts, to enable them to buy adequate quantities of raw material to ensure food security during these difficult climatic and economic times,” CMA says.

According to CMA, the state signed a contract with 129 Kenyan millers that included 27 members of CMA.

“The Treasury opened a special account and credited it with Sh4billion, which was part of the estimated Sh8billion required for the program.”