UDA MPs lead push to impeach Trade CS Moses Kuria
Members of Parliament (MPs) allied with the ruling United Democratic Alliance (UDA) have mooted a plan to impeach Trade, Investment and Industry Cabinet Secretary (CS) Moses Kuria.
The UDA MPs, mostly drawn from President William Ruto's Rift Valley backyard, want to impeach Kuria over his decision to allow the importation of GMO maize into the country.
Addressing the media on Tuesday, November 22, 2022, the MPs led by Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei protested the importation of maize, demanding that the Trade ministry halts the process immediately.
"As MPs from maize-producing regions, we seek to know the reason as to why ships are already docking in Mombasa Port without the laid out legal procedures," Cherargei said.
First impeached CS
Pokot South MP David Pkosing vowed that Kuria will be the first CS in Ruto's Cabinet to be impeached by the National Assembly.
Pkosing revealed that MPs who are against Kuria's importation of GMO maize would begin collecting signatures on Wednesday, November 23 to impeach the Trade CS.
"He will be the first Cabinet Secretary to leave office. We will impeach him. We will collect signatures if he doesn't change," he said.
Pkosing further noted that Kenyan maize farmers were currently in the harvest season and that the government’s plan to allow the importation of GMO maize, if implemented, would disenfranchise the local farmers.
GMO maize saga
Kuria came under attack when he revealed that the government would open a six-month window for the duty-free importation of ten million bags of GMO maize.
However, before the government gave legal authority for the importation of maize, a ship docked at the Mombasa Port carrying GMO maize.
Cherargei lamented that plans to ship 10 million bags into the country were in bad faith and would demoralise local farmers currently harvesting their crops.
The Nandi senator argued that the farmers were likely to incur huge losses after spending so much on farm inputs.
"When we were planting maize we spent about Ksh7,000 on fertiliser per bag. The price of petrol was also high. Importing the maize will hurt maize prices in the country and our farmers won't get returns for their sweat," he argued.
The senator suggested that the Kenya Kwanza government should prioritise buying the current harvest before importing any maize into the country.
