Police in Laikipia County have unearthed a syndicate of traders, believed to be behind the theft and sale of government-subsidised fertiliser.
Security officers on Sunday, April 9 morning pursued and recovered government-subsidised fertilizer at a private outlet in Sipili township, in Laikipia West.
According to Kirima Sub County Deputy County Commissioner John Orata, the 120, 50kg bags of government-subsidised fertilizer were suspected to be destined for re-sale at the private outlet.
"Police officers including detectives, who were acting on a tip-off from members of the public, raided the outlet known as Blessed Agrovet in Sipili Town, where they recovered the consignment. Two suspects were arrested and are helping police with investigations," said Mr Orata.
The administrator revealed that two suspects namely Francis Githiora, 41 and Sarah Murugi, 38, were arrested and are currently detained at Sipili Police Station pending arraignment on Tuesday.
"They are aiding police in investigations and more members of the syndicate will be arrested in the coming days,” said the administrator.
A pickup vehicle, which was suspected to be used in the transportation of the fertilizer, was also impounded.
Mr Orata warned unscrupulous businesses against infiltrating the government’s system of distribution of the subsidised fertilizer.
Already, detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) have started probing how the traders accessed the subsidized fertilizer, with the aim to arrest more members of the syndicate.
This comes a few weeks after the government roped in the DCI, to crack down and arrest cartels suspected to be repackaging and selling government-subsidised fertilizer.
Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mithika Linturi while on a tour of Nakuru, Bomet and Narok counties, put on notice the cartels he said were planning to repackage and sell the subsidized fertilizer.
Previously, during former president Uhuru Kenyatta’s regime, cartels exploited loopholes in vetting channels, to access government-subsidised fertiliser, which they sold to farmers at a higher price.
Unscrupulous traders compromised the vetting committees charged with identifying genuine farmers and managed to access subsidized fertilizer from the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) stores.
The low-cost fertiliser is going for Sh3,500, down from Sh6,500 in the retail market.
The government-subsidised fertilizer is procured through the Kenya National Trading Company (KNTC) and distributed across the country through NCPB depots.
In order to deliver subsidized fertilizers and influence agricultural policies, the government initiated a nationwide campaign to register farmers.
