FACT CHECK: Kenyan first lady tries hushing fake fertilizer scandal with false claims - VOA News.
The administration of Kenya's President William Ruto is facing scrutiny amid a fake fertilizer scandal involving senior government officials.
The storm unfolded after the Kenyan Bureau of Standards tested the government-subsidized fertilizer distributed to farmers across the country.
The results showed the fertilizer was counterfeit: It turned out to be diatomite packaged in government-branded bags and sold to unsuspecting farmers by the National Cereals and Produce Board, at the Agriculture Department.
The Kenyan Parliamentary investigation revealed that top government officials have been using the KEL Chemicals company to sell real fertilizer to farmers during the planting season.
On April 8, Ruto ordered his agencies to compensate all farmers who bought fake fertilizers under the government’s fertilizer subsidy program. He also instructed the nation’s law enforcement to identify and prosecute those involved in the corruption scheme.
Ruto came to power in Kenya with a pledge to uproot decades-long government corruption in this East African nation, which had lost billions of dollars through illicit deals across critical state agencies.
Kenya’s first lady Rachel Ruto took a different approach to soothing the scandal.
On April 16, while attending a Thanksgiving prayer service for Kenya in Nairobi, she told the parishioners, that prayer is better for agriculture than fertilizers, and gave an example – the neighboring Uganda:
"In Kenya, we see our President talk about fertilizers for our farmers. In Uganda, they do not use fertilizers. Their land is very fertile and there is enough rain.’’
That is false.
Uganda has been using fertilizers since World War II. #factcheck #voanews
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