Clock ticks for bleeding State corporations

By JACKSON OKOTH

It is high noon for parastatals that have lost money, been involved in incorrupt practices or with unsupported expenditure on their books.

A parliamentary watchdog is presently combing the books of all Statecorporations and will make recommendations by which firms will be merged, shut down or charged in court.

The Public Investment Committee (PIC) is probing accounts of all State-owned corporations with the comprehensive report about their performance expected to be tabled in Parliament by December 31.

The move is part of parastatal reforms that will see a number of State-owned corporations shut down while others are merged.

Under pressure

“We are under pressure to submit these reports to parliament by December 31,” Adan Keynan the chairman of the PIC said, emphasising the urgency.

A number of parastatal chief executives have appeared before the PIC to answer several audit queries, with cabinet secretaries and the Auditor General also getting summons from the watchdog committee.

A report by the Presidential Task Force on Parastatal Reforms chaired by Abdikadir Mohammed is proposing far-reaching measures in the structure and organisation of parastatals to curb wastage of public funds and overlapping of their duties.

Watch list

 On the watch list of parastatals that could be shut down or restructured include the Numerical Machine Complex, National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) and Kenya Meat Commission (KMC) among other moribund outfits.

For many years, parastatals have been used as dumping grounds for cronies and relatives of senior government officials.

The Parliamentary committee has a huge pile of reports and paperwork to go through, ahead of the December 31 deadline.