“He (DP Ruto) cannot solve the land issues. For us in Azimio, we have a plan, we shall take the… one (land) for Agricultural Development Corporation (ADC). We will use it to resettle our people who are landless so that this issue is resolved once and for all,” Mr Odinga is quoted telling an unbelieving crowd in Trans Nzoia County. https://nation.africa/kenya/news/politics/raila-odinga-strikes-western-deals-to-check-dp-william-ruto–3829890

Is this heresy anyone of Raila Odinga’s stature as a presidential candidate can affirm? Is resolving landlessness in Kenya that simple? And does ADC have enough land to resettle the landless in Kenya? Such crowd-pleasing antics must be exposed for the stunts they’re.

Agriculture is in ICU. For the first time in Kenya’s history, the country is a net importer of food. Basics like eggs, milk, maize, beans, wheat, green grams, cowpeas, rice and sorghum cereals are now imports. Budget allocations to support agricultural production have dwindled over the years to negligeable levels this last five years. The National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB), the gatekeeper for our national food reserves and security was long vandalised and left to die.  

A casual survey of the yawning NCPB go-downs is testimony of agricultural produce neglect, leading to skyrocketing prices of basic food commodities. Compounding this, is negligence of agricultural research funding. 

Then for a solution, a leading presidential contender has the craziest solution that amounts to killing agricultural production completely. Yet he ought to know agriculture is the largest contributor to our GDP. But his “wise” counsel, is our food crisis final solution is to kill the goose that lays the golden egg. 

In his mind, we will sort out our food deficit by dismantling ADC, a key agricultural research institution, by sub-dividing its land to ostensibly landless people. Is this the solution to landlessness in Kenya? If it is, what a disaster! You can’t sub-divide ADC land and at the same time hope to initiate agricultural productivity. In any case, government policy is to scale down sub-divisions of land into small uneconomic land holdings.

Kenya needs what remains of ADC farms for seedling, soils research and experiments. An idea such as Raila’s was last implemented and courted disaster under the late President Moi regime, whose charge was to curve off ADC and Agricultural Finance Corporation (AFC) lands and allocate it to regime cronies. 

Raila’s “land policy” counters Jubilee government wishful thinking to allocate unavailable Sh2.7 trillion to Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Co-operatives when the Sh3.3 trillion budget is about a trillion less deficit due to high debt and interest servicing. Still, all the good intentions will come to nothing if ADC was to be vandalised. Indeed, there is a rare honest but revealing confession by the ministry about the 2022/23 budget that admits “since last year (2021/22 budget), agriculture allocation has been decreasing in the National Budget.” 

Yet agriculture is the highest contributor to GDP. Of the Sh2.7 trillion ostensibly allocated to agriculture, the wish list that depends on ADC efficiency, will be thrown asunder.

In short, Raila is disowning the budget of his sponsor Uhuru Kenyatta. 

It was routine business as usual, for the Kanu regime to reward cronies with parcelled-off public utility land, for political support. That’s how ADC land in Nakuru was hived off leading to closure of research stations, and ensuring perennial conflicts in Maela area. Around Nakuru town is where who is who of the Moi era has settled on ADC land.

It’s not difficult to read in the damn idea as from a latter-day Nyaoist clothed in reform credentials. 

– The writer is Spokesman for ANC party leader Musalia Mudavadi