Nairobi - Kenya on Tuesday announced it was launching an investigation into allegations that huge quantities of imported maize have been sold illegally as millions of Kenyans go hungry. Kenya's Daily Nation alleged that millions of bags of maize, imported to alleviate a famine brought on partly by disruption of planting due to the post-election violence last January, were being sold to South Sudan.
The accusations come as the Kenyan government is warning that 10 million people, almost a third of Kenya's population, are facing food shortages.
"The Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission and other government agencies have been asked to establish the truth of these allegations regarding the illegal trading of maize," government spokesman Alfred Mutua said in a statement. "The findings will be made public and appropriate action taken."
The accusations are threatening to deepen a rift in the grand coalition that was created to end the post-election violence.
Justice Minister Martha Karua, a member of President Mwai Kibaki's Party of National Unity (PNU), said that cartels in the Agricultural Ministry were responsible for selling on the maize.
Agriculture Minister William Ruto, of Prime Minister Raila Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), angrily rejected the claims and called on Karua to back up her claims with evidence.
Relations between the two parties have degenerated in recent weeks, with Odinga claiming he is being increasingly sidelined by Kibaki.
The ODM says it was not consulted on decisions over electoral reform, a controversial new media law and the appointment of new ambassadors.
Odinga became premier early last year as part of a power-sharing deal brokered by former UN secretary general Kofi Annan.
The deal brought to an end months of violence in which more than 1,500 people died in clashes between rival tribes.
The clashes were prompted by Odinga's accusation that the PNU had rigged the elections.
