‘No Thanks,’ Kenya Says, to ‘Unfit’ Corn

This East African nation has rejected as unfit a shipload of damp, broken-up American corn sent as famine aid, but the United States plans to use it elsewhere, the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi said Sunday.

Embassy spokesman Victor Jackovich admitted that part of the 40,000-metric-ton shipment had deteriorated either during transportation or unloading at the Indian Ocean port of Mombasa. But he added, “We still think the vast majority of it is usable,” and said it will probably be sent elsewhere in Africa to alleviate famine.

A newspaper article in the Sunday Nation here, carrying the banner headline “Kenya Rejects Unfit U.S. Maize,” said Kenyan authorities rejected the corn, which arrived May 4, because much of it had become fragmented and because the moisture content was 15.5%, making it unfit for storage.