President William Ruto has lost trust in Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mithika Linturi.
This is after he put Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua in charge of the Agriculture docket just after an impeachment motion against Linturi flopped.
Ruto asked Gachagua to oversee the troubled Ministry of Agriculture.
According to Ruto, even though there was a minister for Agriculture, the sector was so important that it needed Gachagua’s support.
“The Ministry of Agriculture is an important sector in our country. That is why being in charge by the minister, I have asked my deputy also to have his eyes on the sector,” he stated.
The President noted that the sector contributes close to KSh 200 billion annually, with farmers more than 600,050 across the country, and many Kenyans who get their source of livelihood from agriculture.
He further added that the ministry is crucial to the Kenya Kwanza government which has a fertilizer subsidy programme that provides fertilizer to farmers at an affordable rate.
“We have centred our focus on sectors that are directly affected by the Ministry of Agriculture.
“The sector brings about KSh200 billion every year, it includes more than 600,050 farmers and benefits more than 4.5 million people.
“It is for this reason that I attach the importance of the sector, not only to the nation but also to this administration,” he added.
The embattled Agriculture CS was linked to the distribution of fake fertilizer to farmers in the country.
Linturi had earlier refuted claims of the existence of fake fertilizer. According to him, the fertilizer was not fake, but short of the required standards in Kenya.
