Agriculture CS Linturi on the spot over Ruto land order
Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mithika Linturi in Eldoret town, Uasin Gishu County on August 31, 2023.
Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mithika Linturi is on the spot over failure to honour President William Ruto’s directive on the withdrawal of a case from court that has grounded the operations of Midlands agro-processing plant in Nyandarua County.
Speaking at Wanjohi grounds in Kipipiri constituency on December 11, 2022, Dr Ruto directed the Ministry of Agriculture to withdraw a case filed in court staking claim to ownership of a 25-acre piece of land where the plant sits.
He assured farmers of the imminent resolution of a 10-year dispute between the Ministry of Agriculture and shareholders of Midlands Limited.
However, 10 months since the President made the directive, nothing seems to be moving. Mr Linturi did not respond to our inquiries sent to his known phone number.
Fiscal analysts in parliament estimate that the failure to utilise the multi-crop processing plant translates to a loss of more than 2,000 jobs, an export potential of more than Sh12 billion and an import substitution potential of a similar magnitude.
The farmers in 2003 approached then President Mwai Kibaki government for assistance to develop a multi-crop storage and processing facility. The assistance came in the form of a 25-acre Settlement Fund Trustee (SFT) plot in Njabini.
“The farmers struggled to pool funds for over five years before they could raise enough capital to build the facility,” Mr Danson Mutugi, a farmer, says.
Mr Mutugi says that, at the time, around 3,000 members comprising individuals, societies, and self-help groups had enlisted.
Mr Mutugi says that by the time the Ministry of Agriculture “appeared to switch off the engine,” some of the units were in production while others were still at the planning stage. Documents in our possession show that, in 2009, the ministry filed a complaint with the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC), now EACC, claiming that its land, LR Nyandarua/Njabini/5852 had been grabbed by Midlands Limited.
“The ministry had claimed that Midlands Limited is a private company yet it is a community project,” Mr Johnson Rasugu, a farmer, told Nation.
But even before the civil suit could be dispensed with, KACC filed a criminal case in Nairobi accusing then Lands Minister Amos Kimunya, former Director of Land Adjudication and Settlement Lilian Njenga and then Midlands Limited chairman Junghae Wainaina of fraud.
However, on May 20, 2020, Mr Felix Kombo, the Senior Principal Magistrate at the anti-corruption court in Nairobi, dismissed the fraud charges against the three.
But in October 2022, the ruling was set aside following an appeal by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
The farmers petitioned the Nyandarua County Assembly, which resolved that the land was owned by the farmers through Midlands Limited.
“That the national government, through the Ministry of Agriculture, should withdraw its claim on the land allocated to Midlands,” the MCAs ruled.
The county executive complained that, in spite of agriculture being a devolved function, the Ministry of Agriculture and EACC have ignored the county.
“Should the court find that the property belongs to the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, then the beneficiary of the judgment shall be the County Government of Nyandarua,” the governor’s letter reads.
Before the matter went to court, Midlands Limited had connected with USA buyers with $80 million (about Sh11.6 billion at the current dollar exchange rate of Sh144.55) worth of dehydrated assorted vegetables annually.
