A section of residents from Meru County has complained over Sh1 Billion that had been given by President Uhuru Kenyatta to revive miraa farming in the region.
The farmers from Nyambene area demanded the government to explain how the money was spent stating that it was yet to help them.
According to the residents, it was not clear how the task force mandated to revive the cash crop, whose proceeds have been dwindling, used the money.
They further threatened to use the issue in 2017 as a campaign tool against the Jubilee government in case proper explanation was not issued.
“While we thank President Kenyatta for forming the task force and allocating Sh1 Billion to revitalise production, we wanted it spent to directly benefit farmers. Miraa is going to be a serious campaign issue and that is why we want the Jubilee government to say how the money was spent. It was their money and a satisfactory answer is necessary,” they declared.
The group insisted that they were also voters, calling on Deputy President William Ruto to address the issue during his regular tours of the region.
“We would like Deputy President Ruto who is a regular visitor of Meru to talk about the Sh1 Billion and how the task force used it,” they added.
In April, Kenyatta announced that the government had allocated the money to cushion farmers from adverse effects after the sale of the crop was banned especially in the United Kingdom.
At the same time, he formed the task force to look into the issue and signed a law that categorised miraa as a cash crop.
