The Bandit Economy Where the Poor Will Always be Poor

Chief Justice Dr. Willy Mutunga said once that Kenya is a bandit economy. According to him, the country was under the mercy of bandits; looters, thieves, drug lords, rapists and the corrupt mafia.

The rift between the rich and the poor in Kenya is widening at a faster rate and soon the middle class is likely to be wiped out. It appears the bandits, who have the power and the mandate to run the economy of the country are determined to make sure that that happens.

In the year 2009, the government, under the Ministry of Agriculture, announced that farmers were no longer going to suffer in search of fertilizer. The government announced that it was committed in making sure that Kenya remains secure in terms of food production.

Read: The True State of Kenya’s Economy: The Numbers

In order to make this come true, the government implemented the supply of subsidized fertilizer to farmers across the country. Before, farmers would pay between 4000 to 4500 shillings be 50kg bag of fertilizer but with the subsidized one, a farmer was required to only part with 1800 shillings.

Farmers celebrated. They sang and danced for their ancestors had remembered them and a new dawn had come upon them. Little did they know that their joy was an illusion. It was short-lived. The economic bandits saw an avenue to make a kill and the government became a victim.

Farmers on the ground never got a taste of the subsidized fertilizer. The indispensable economic bandits diverged the fertilizer, removed it from government bags and packed it afresh in their own bags and latter sold it to farmers at the price of between 4000 and 4500 shillings per bag.

On Thursday, more than 20 top brass members of the National Cereals and Produce Board were interdicted after it was found out that they were responsible for the disappearance of the fertilizer meant for farmers.

The government also announced that more than 10,000 bags of fertilizer that had been stolen had been recovered and that plans were underway to distribute it to farmers.

Will the culprits be taken to court? Will they be asked to pay back all that they have been stealing from farmers? What mechanisms has the government put in place to ensure that farmers do get the subsidized fertilizer?