Maize millers have come out to say that they are facing a cash crisis. The millers say that their cash crisis is the result of unpaid unga subsidy money that former president Uhuru Kenyatta left office without paying.
According to the Cereal Millers Association, the cash crisis is threatening the operations of the maize millers, and might have a direct impact on the availability of maize flour.
“We are working tirelessly with the Ministry of Agriculture to release payments for verified invoices so that millers who are currently facing severe cash flow constraints due to delayed payments are able to continue milling,” CMA chief executive officer Paloma Fernandes said.
In early September, the outstanding bill for the unga subsidy was estimated to be over Sh. 1.1 billion.
The millers had delivered their invoices expecting to be paid within five days as per the contracts they signed with the government. This did not happen.
“About 45 millers are yet to be paid. In total, about Sh. 1.1 billion worth of invoices delivered by millers have not been paid,” a source privy to the matter had said. Sh. 4 billion that had been credited to an escrow account that had been opened to run the subsidy was already depleted.
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Most of the millers fear the government may refuse to pay them, as it did in 2017, when more than Sh. 500 million that was owed to some millers was not settled until this year, when the government needed them.
