Kenya: Toxic Maize Pits Farmers Against WFP

Daniel Nyassy

12 October 2009

http://allafrica.com/stories/200910121382.html

Nairobi — About 238 bags of highly toxic maize have disappeared from stores at the Bura Irrigation and Settlement Scheme in a case that is pitting the WFP against farmers in the region.

Fears abound that the maize may have been stolen and found its way into the market.

But the circumstances under which the consignment disappeared from the National Irrigation Board (NIB) godown at Bura are puzzling, and so are the stunning tales from the farmers.

The aflatoxin levels in the missing maize are quite high, and is a real threat to human life. The dangerous maize is said to be on sale in parts of Garissa and Mwingi towns.

Our two days camping at Bura over the weekend revealed that the issue has put World Food Programme (WFP) at the centre of the saga with farmers accusing the international organization of an underhand deal to deny them cash.

The manager, Bura Irrigation and Settlement Scheme (BISS) Mr Ben Masawe, declined to comment on the issue, terming it as "very sensitive".

"Our job was to facilitate the farmers with the land and how to take care of the crop. After harvesting, we had nothing to do with it. Whether the maize was toxic or where they sold it, it's not our problem," he said and referred Nation to the District Commissioner Mr Reuben Loyotanan and the Bura Farmers Cooperative Society (BFCS) chairlady Ms Rose Atieno Ochieng.

The matter now had been handed over to the police after the blame game went on for three months with numerous meetings between stakeholders bearing no fruit. Meanwhile, the toxic maize continues to pose great threat to human life.

The farmers on the other hand do not believe the maize is toxic and that most think that it was WFP's ploy to deny them income.

A letter from the Bura District Public Health Officer, Mr Elvis Dhadho, to the DC dated October 2, 2009 instructs the DCs office to investigate the matter urgently.

Titled: "Disappearance of seized white grain whole maize, unweighed 238 bags" the letter urged the DC to carry out "full investigation of the matter which is by law a contravention under Section 30 (10) of The Food, Drugs and Chemical Substances Act, Cap 254 Laws of Kenya".

Mr Dhadho says the condemned maize stock had been seized by his office after WFP declared it highly toxic and unfit for human consumption.

"The stock was officially seized by my officers after analysis report from WFP indicated high levels of aflatoxin in 975 bags of 50kgs which were in the process of being purchased by WFP from the Bura Farmers Cooperative Society".

The officer added that a series of consultative meetings and joint collaboration interventions between the DC's office, NIB manager, WFP representatives, Equity Bank (which gave a loan to the farmers to grow the disputed maize), public health officers and cooperative representatives in the month of September had failed to resolve the matter.

According to Mr Dhadho, WFP made their report vide a letter dated September 23, 2009 declaring the maize unsafe.

According to WFP's report, samples of the maize were tested in Europe where it was found to have unacceptable levels of aflatoxin.

It says only 10 parts per billion units is the globally acceptable level of aflatoxin. However, the Government accepts upto 20 parts per billion or higher for livestock.

But the Bura maize was found to contain between 890 and 3,800 parts per billion making it extremely dangerous for human and even livestock consumption.

The DC, like the irrigation scheme manager Mr Masawe, wants his office left out of the saga saying it had nothing to do with the business between WFP and the farmers.

"We were not involved from the beginning. It was a project between the irrigation scheme, farmers and WFP. We can't be blamed for the disappearance of the maize which was kept by the farmers and WFP," he said.

He said what he knew was that WFP wanted to buy 975 bags from the farmers and actually bought the first consignment of 500 bags.

"When the maize tested unfit, WFP went ahead to compensate the farmers. They even brought 1,000 bags of maize which they bought from elsewhere in order to give to the farmers as compensation," he said.

The 90 farmers who claim they lost more than Sh12 million in the deal with WFP vehemently dispute the aflatoxin theory of the public health officer and the international organization and dismiss the compensation story.

The Treasurer of the cooperative Mzee Magiri Manene says, "This whole issue is a rip-off. We were selling our maize to local market before at Sh2,000 per bag. We had sold 3,000 bags to Mwingi in the previous harvest before WFP came in".

He said WFP convinced them that they would buy their crop at a better price of Sh 2,600 per bag "and we accepted".

Said Mzee Manene, "WFP came and supervised the growing of the disputed crop all the way to harvesting and storage. All along they confirmed that our maize was perfect.

"They stored it under their supervision in the godown and used their preservative chemicals. Later they even put it in WFP branded bags. How did the maize suddenly turn toxic?"

He said sometime after WFP took the samples away, they sent word that they would come back and buy more maize from the farmers.

"I went out of my way to get 270 extra bags when they told us they would arrive on September 19 to buy more maize," he said adding that the farmers from nine villages of the scheme were shocked beyond explanation when, upon arrival, WFP declared their maize contaminated and unfit.

"What surprised us even more is that WFP brought 1,000 bags of worse maize claiming they were compensating us. This maize is old and mixed with other grains and can not even be sold to consumers," he said.

The chairperson Ms Rose Atieno says, "If they wanted to compensate us, why didn't they give us money? Why give us maize? We agreed they would pay us money for our maize, not maize", she said.

Farmers have cried foul, claiming that thereis more than meets the eye in the whole saga. She said they are unable to service a Sh 12 million loan from Equity Bank which they hoped to pay back after the WFP deal.

Of the 238 bags of disappeared maize, Ms Atieno said farmers went to the cooperative officials and demanded it back following the circus.

"The farmers took their maize away and sold it or consumed it in their homes," she said and asked why no one died from eating this maize if indeed it was toxic.

The farmers want WFP and the ministry of Public health to come clear on the matter and explain to the nation what the truth is.

Puzzle of 238 bags of toxic maize missing from stores

DAILY NATION

By GATONYE GATHURA and DANIEL NYASSYPosted Monday, October 12 2009 at 22:00

Maize suspected to be contaminated with aflatoxins could be circulating in parts of Garissa and Mwingi districts, according to relief aid agencies.

The approximately 238 bags of highly toxic maize are said to have disappeared from stores at the Bura Irrigation and Settlement Scheme.

Another larger consignment from the Bura scheme has been tested and found to contain extremely high levels of aflatoxins that could endanger health.

According to a source within the aid agencies, but who wished to remain anonymous, in September the World Food Programme (WFP) had applied to buy 48 metric tonnes of maize from a group of farmers at the irrigation scheme.

According to the sale agreement, WFP would only buy the maize after testing it for contamination. Samples from 975 bags were sent for lab analysis both in Mombasa and The Netherlands.

The tests, sources say, found the maize to be highly contaminated with aflatoxins, many times over what is considered safe for both humans and livestock.

The maize was found to contain toxin levels of between 890 and 3,800 parts per billion. WFP accepts maize that has no more than 10 parts of aflatoxin per billion while the Kenya government accepts no more than 20 parts per billion.

WFP is said to have offered to replace the 975 bags the Bura farmers had collected and recommended that the bad maize be destroyed. It has since been stored by ministry of Public Health and Sanitation.

Mr Gitonga Mugambi, a chief irrigation officer with the National Irrigation Board, yesterday said the board was doing its own tests and had taken samples to the Kenya Bureau of Standards while the ministry of Public Health had taken samples to the Government Chemist for analysis.

“If the maize is confirmed to be contaminated the necessary steps will be taken to destroy the consignment,” he said.

However, the farmers had also collected another 238 bags which the WFP could not consider buying because they came too late when the fate of the other bags had been decided.

Because this maize had been grown, harvested, dried and stored under similar conditions with the earlier batch, it was also suspected to be contaminated.

It is these 238 bags aid agencies fear have been released to farmers and sold to traders in Garissa and Mwingi.

However, Mr Mugambi says he is not aware of this development, recommending that the only people who can trace the suspect maize are public health officials.

High levels of aflatoxins can trigger a disease outbreak as happened in 2004 and 2005, when 395 cases of severe aflatoxin poisoning were reported, resulting in 157 deaths in Makueni.

The red flag over contaminated maize in the area was raised last October by researchers from the Kenya Medical Research Institute and the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

Research shows most residents are exposed to chronic low-level aflatoxins, which increase risks of liver cancer, impaired immune function and malnutrition. Acute high-level exposure, which is less common, causes early symptoms of diminished appetite, malaise, and low fever. Later symptoms, including vomiting, abdominal pain, and hepatitis, signal potentially fatal liver failure.

Writing in the East African Medical Journal, the researchers concluded that the cause of high levels of aflatoxin in maize in Makueni and neighbouring districts was poor handling during harvesting, drying and storage of local produce.

Almost 80 per cent of maize in the area, the researchers said, is stored in plastic bags, which are known to retain moisture and promote aflatoxin contamination.

Spreading maize on the ground to dry increases its contact with the soil, where the aflatoxin-producing fungus resides.

Our two-day investigations in Bura over the weekend revealed that farmers do not believe the maize is toxic and are accusing WFP of an underhand deal to deny them cash for their produce.

The manager of Bura Irrigation and Settlement Scheme, Mr Ben Masawe, declined to comment on the issue, terming it as “very sensitive”. The matter has been handed over to the police after the blame game went on for three months with numerous meetings bearing no fruit.

But the 90 farmers say they lost more than Sh12 million in the deal with WFP.

Mzee Magiri Manene, the treasurer of the farmers’ cooperative, said they were selling their maize to the local market at Sh2,000 per bag when WFP convinced them that it would buy their crop at a better price of Sh2,600 per bag.

“WFP supervised the growing of the crop all the way to harvesting and storage. All along they confirmed that our maize was perfect.

“We stored it under their supervision in the godown and used their preservative chemicals. Later they even put it in WFP branded bags. How did the maize suddenly turn toxic?” he posed.

“What surprised us even more is that WFP brought 1,000 bags of worse maize claiming they were compensating us. This maize is old and mixed with other grains and cannot even be sold.”

Service loan

The chairperson Ms Rose Atieno says: “If they wanted to compensate us, why didn’t they give us money? We agreed they would pay us money for our maize, not maize.”

Farmers cannot service a Sh12 million Equity Bank loan which they hoped to pay after the WFP deal, she said.

Of the 238 bags of disappeared maize, Ms Atieno said farmers went to the cooperative officials and demanded it back.

“The farmers took their maize away and sold it or consumed it in their homes,” she said and asked why no one died from eating this maize if indeed it was toxic.

WFP Kenya: Relief Food in the North Finds Its Way to Shops

Nairobi — Food meant for starving people and being supplied by the government in northern Kenya is being sold in shops in the region -- even as famine continues to claim lives.

In North Horr, a Nation team touring the area had no problem buying a 50kg bale of rice with the Government of Kenya stamp and clearly labelled "Not For Sale".

The 50kg bag of rice was selling at Sh3,000.

When approached, the unsuspecting shop owner volunteered to go and fetch an unopened bale from his house a short distance away, because the one he had in the shop had already been opened for the grain to be sold in smaller rations.

Paid in food

The Provincial Administration concedes that relief food is being sold, attributing it to the fact that transporters and loaders hired to distribute the food are sometimes paid in kind -- given some of the food, which they are then free to sell.

At Tharade, the local district officer confessed that the relief food was being sold because people got more than they needed.

A visit to the expansive region established that nearly a month and a half since President Kibaki launched an emergency programme in response to famine ravaging the country, hunger continues to take a deadly toll.

In Marsabit and the surrounding regions, the hardest hit are the elderly, too weak to endure the hunger that has overwhelmed most parts of the country since the beginning of the year.

Although there is no official figure to show how many people have died due to the food shortage, a survey by Nation in the greater Marsabit established that at least eight people have starved to death since August.

However, the emergency intervention programme is being seen as a sham, especially in pastoralists' areas like the arid parts of northern Kenya and parts of Laikipia and Samburu districts.

Northern region comprises Marsabit, Isiolo and Moyale, which are witnessing one of the worst famines.

Taken a toll

Contacted by the Nation on Sunday, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Special Programmes, Mr Mohammed Ali, accused the Provincial Administration of failing to abide by government rules in the distribution of relief food.

"We have received complaints that district commissioners are not being transparent in distributing the food," said Mr Ali in a telephone interview.

The food crisis has taken a heavy toll on a majority of the people living in this region. Without their livestock, the communities are entirely depending on relief food being supplied by the government and the World Food Programme.

But the WFP food distributed every month is what has kept most people going.

The food is, however, very little because it is only distributed to a targeted group of the most vulnerable.

Their main diet is meat and milk, which are no longer available because herds of livestock have been wiped out by the drought. The few remaining ones have been driven to neighbouring countries by their owners in search of pasture.

While launching the programme in Loiyangalani division in Marsabit South district on August 18, President Kibaki made it clear that the government would use all resources at its disposal to ensure that no Kenyan dies for lack of food.

Two days later, Prime Minister Raila Odinga launched the Crisis Response Centre (CRC) to coordinate the drought emergency effort.

Members of the CRC are drawn from various ministries and their work is mainly to coordinate distribution of the government relief food to the district level.

In August, food valued at Sh881 million was distributed to 145 districts affected by the drought, according to Mr Ali, who coordinates the CRC.Food worth more than Sh800 million was released again last month.

Mr Ali said that the centre was now releasing the October consignment, worth Sh1.1 billion.

But is all the food reaching the deserving people?

In Chalbi district of the greater Marsabi,t where old people are starving to death, each family received an average of four kilogrammes of maize and rice and about a kilogramme of beans in August.

Last month the district did not receive its rations, which, according to Mr Ali, was due to delay in arrival of the food.

"The food arrived late and distribution process could not be finalised on time. But the food has now been distributed and people in Marsabit should be receiving it," said the PS.

The Chalbi District Officer, Mr Moses Chepkorom, said people were starving because the August, rations were only enough to sustain a family for a day or two.

However, Mr Ali said he was shocked to hear that.

"Each person was supposed to have 10.5 kilogrammes of cereals (maize and rice) from the deliveries we gave the DCs in the greater Marsabit," he said.

Sold in shops

They were supposed to get beans and cooking oil, which only reached very few people.

Even as Mr Chepkorom insisted that the relief food for August was not enough, the same food was being sold in shops.

Residents of the district are pointing fingers at the members of the Provincial Administration, who have the duty of distributing the food.

During an interview in his office in Maikona town, Mr Chepkorom did not deny that relief food was being sold in some areas.

"Probably the relief food being sold is the one given to transporters as a transportation fee when they transport it to the interior parts of the district," he said.

What he could not explain is why his office was using private transporters and yet the food is supposed to be moved by the military, the Administration Police and the National Youth Service using government trucks.

When the government has to hire private transporters, Mr Ali made it clear, DCs had been provided with money to meet the costs.

At El Gade village in North Horr location, residents told Nation that they had received 30 bags of maize from their August rations.

But 10 bags were given to the transporter who took the food to their trading centre.

Mr Chepkorom also explained that owners of stores where relief food is kept before distribution, mostly in the interior of the vast district, are paid with the same food.

Even loaders were not paid cash, but given food, he added.

In Tharade, the DO said people got more relief food than they needed.

"Here we blundered as we took a lot of food but realised that most of the inhabitants had migrated with their livestock," said Mr Chepkorom.The people who got the excess food resorted to selling it.

There are some centres, the DO further explained, where they could not transport the relief food because they were far-flung.

One problem hampering smooth delivery of the relief food, and which Mr Ali agreed was a real bottleneck, is lack of clear guidelines on the distribution process. The World Food Programme and other agencies have for years distributed relief food through a local committee.

It is local people who elect the relief food distribution committee members.

And the committees are answerable to both the relief food beneficiaries and the distributing agents. But in the emergency response intervention, relief food distribution is the sole responsibility of the Provincial Administration.

District commissioners are the overall coordinators of the distribution, while district officers and chiefs coordinate at the grassroots.

Mr Ali promised to take action against the DCs in Marsabit and other areas where leaders have raised complaints about the distribution of relief food.In Wajir South, Mr Ali said three chiefs had already been charged in court in connection with sale of relief food.

Mr Ali said people should not remain silent when they see government officials selling relief food.

"They should write to me and the permanent secretary for internal security to complain," he said.

And he promised that action would be taken against district commissioners in the area if it is established that they are involved in the sale of relief food.

"We cannot allow government officials to take advantage and start selling food meant for the hungry," he said.

Another WFP scandal in Kenya ?

Prime Minister Raila Odinga Tuesday directed the Drought Crisis Response Centre to investigate reports that the Provincial Administration was involved in theft and sale of relief food in Northern Kenya.

The Prime Minister has also asked the Crisis Centre and the Ministry to look for ways of entrusting the distribution of relief food to relief agencies while confining the provincial administration to providing security to the agencies.

He referred the agencies to the 2004 directive in which the government directed that relief food from the WFP and the government be distributed through agencies that include religious organizations, NGOs and the Kenya Red Cross.

The order came in the light of reports of massive theft of food by members of the provincial administration.

He asked the Ministry and the crisis centre to revert to this arrangement immediately while they track down culprits who must be punished.

The PM noted that so far, there have been no complaints over food handled by the Red Cross in Northern Kenya.

Fraud

But new districts like Garba-Tulla, Laisamis and Samburu East which still rely on the provincial administration to distribute the food are experiencing problems with the handling and distribution of the relief food.

Food has not reached residents of these areas as it should because of fraud being committed by government officials.

There are complaints in Isiolo, Garba-Tulla, Samburu East and Laisamis, where the governmnent food is being handled by the provincial administration.

The PM noted that he has received reports that administrators often reduce by as much as half food meant for the hungry population and retain the portion for themselves.

Some of the food being stolen belongs to schools, even special schools like that for the deaf, children's home and orphanages, community based organizations or self help groups and internally displaced persons.

The PM said it is unacceptable that the government should spend so much money and go out begging for food to save starving people only for the same food to end in the granaries of officials who don't need it.

The PM directed the Ministry to probe reports that food ratios are reduced for institutions like schools and the school heads are still compelled to sign for the total ration.

He called for investigations into food allegedly being distributed to IDPs in Northern Kenya who do not exist in the area.

Suicide Bomber Kills 5 At Pakistani U.N. Office

By REUTERS

Filed at 10:35 a.m. ET

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - A suicide bomber dressed as a paramilitary soldier attacked an office of the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) in the Pakistani capital on Monday, killing five staff, government and U.N. officials said.

Pakistan security forces have made gains this year against al Qaeda-linked Pakistani Taliban militants who have set off bombs in towns and cities aimed at security forces and government and foreign targets.

But hopes that the militants were in disarray following the killing of their leader, Baitullah Mehsud, in a U.S. missile attack in August suffered a setback when the new Taliban chief surfaced to deny differences in his ranks.

The suicide bomber was disguised as a paramilitary soldier and got into the WFP compound after asking a guard at the gate if he could use a toilet, a government minister said.

A WFP spokesman, Amjad Jamal, said five members of staff had been killed, four Pakistanis and an Iraqi. Two of the Pakistanis were women.

"I went to my office on the first floor and as I sat on my chair there was a huge blast," WFP official Arshad Jadoon told Reuters outside the tightly guarded office in a residential area of Islamabad.

"All of a sudden, a smoke cloud enveloped the building and we came out where wounded people were lying," he said.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the attack was a heinous crime.

"This is a terrible tragedy for the U.N. and for the whole humanitarian community in Pakistan," he said in a statement condemning the bombing "in the strongest terms."

The United Nations temporarily closed its office in Pakistan after the blast for security reasons, a U.N. spokeswoman said.

Two foreign U.N. workers were killed in a suicide car bomb attack on a hotel in the northwestern city of Peshawar in June.

Monday's blast led to a brief spate of selling at Pakistan's main stock market but the market recovered to end 0.35 percent higher at 9,487.95 points.

"NO DIFFERENCES"

Interior Minister Rehman Malik had been saying the back of the Pakistani Taliban has been broken but the militants have struck back with several bombs in recent days as the army prepares to launch an offensive on their main bastion in the South Waziristan region on the Afghan border.

New Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud met a small group of journalists in South Waziristan on Sunday to dismiss speculation of infighting over leadership of the alliance of 13 factions.

Pakistani and U.S. officials had said they believed that Hakimullah might have been killed in a firefight with a rival faction led by commander Wali-ur-Rehman weeks ago in a dispute about who should take over from Baitullah.

Hakimullah looked relaxed and a little fatter than when a group of reporters last met him late last year as he sat with Rehman on the ground under a sunny sky with other Taliban commanders as armed guards stood by.

"Wali-ur-Rehman is sitting beside me and the only difference between us was that he was asking me to become Taliban leader and he was insisting on me taking charge," Hakimullah said in comments broadcast on Dawn TV.

Malik repeated his assertion that the back of the Pakistani Taliban had been broken but he warned of more attacks.

"They are like a wounded snake," Malik said, adding that captured militants had told interrogators some bombers had been sent off on missions last month.

"So in coming days, two or three suicide bombings are expected," he said.

Malik said the bombers were trying to destabilize the country but the nation was united against them.

"In a matter of a few days we'll take action against them as we took in Swat, Bajaur and Mohmand," Malik said, referring to three northwestern areas where security forces have attacked and pushed back the militants. He did not elaborate.

Speculation about an assault on South Waziristan is rising as the United States has been stepping up pressure on Pakistan to go after Afghan Taliban factions based in northwestern enclaves.

With Afghan violence reaching new heights, the United States is weighing options on how to deal with the insurgency eight years after driving the Taliban from power.

The U.S. commander of foreign forces in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, said in an assessment leaked last week Afghan insurgent leaders were based in Pakistan.

Pakistan denies that but many analysts say Pakistan is acting only against militants which are a threat to itself, like the Pakistani Taliban.

(Additional reporting by Zeeshan Haider and Sahar Ahmed; Writing by Robert Birsel)

Somalia: Demonstration against WFP staged in Bosaso

http://www.somaliweyn.org/pages/news/Sep_09/30Sep23.html

Mogadishu Wednesday 30 Sep 2009 SMC

Wide demonstration aginest World Food Programme was on Wednesday staged in the town of Bosaso in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland in eastern Somalia.

The demonstrators had placards, depicted with starving children and elder people, and it was generally based on the closure of feeding centers which were ran, by World Food Programme in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland.

“We are Internal Displaced People, who have fled from the day-to-day clashed in the capital Mogadishu, and we have been relaying on the feeding centers of WFP, and we don’t know how our fate is going to be now after the shutting down of the centers where we have been feeding from” said Halima Noor a mother in the town of Bosaso who was among the beneficiaries of the feeding centers speaking to Somaliweyn radio over the wire.

The demonstrators who were mainly from southern Somali, and have also added that the wet food which they were used to be given is now changed to dry food which is given to the local residents, instead of the IDPa.

However the closure of the World Food Programme comes after along discussion between WFP officials and the officials of Puntland state.

Mohammed Omar Hussein+2521-5519235 shiinetown@hotmail.com

Somaliweyn Media Center “SMC”