Koskei ordered to freeze accounts of 10 Parastatals

By Ally Jamah

Kenya: Members of Parliament have directed Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Felix Koskei to freeze the accounts of ten Parastatals in the Agriculture sector saying the bodies were abolished by Parliament.

Legislators of the Agriculture committee led Adan Mohamed Nooru announced the ultimatum to Koskei Tuesday saying the ten parastatals should not be operating accounts or have board members after they were also collapsed into one entity by a law  passed in Parliament last year.

The Parastatals in question include the Kenya Sugar Board, Tea Board of Kenya, Coffee Board of Kenya, Horticultural Crops Development Authority, Coconut Development Authority and Pyrethrum Board of Kenya.

Others are Cotton Development Authority, Sisal Board of Kenya, Pests Control Products Board, and the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service.

The law that collapsed these Parastatals is the Agricultural Fisheries and Food Authority Act which is the successor of the repealed Agriculture Act.

The former Parastatals have been turned into directorates of the new Authority.

“We are very concerned that taxpayers’ money could be lost or mismanaged by the former parastatals. Accounts that should not be operational are still active. Board members who should not been in office are still running affairs of these key Parastatals. We want that to stop immediately,” said Nooru

The MPs called on Koskei to put in place an interim Secretariat to coordinate the securing of all assets and liabilities of the collapsed bodies and take charge of the transition process in the Agriculture sector in coordination with the Transitional Authority .

The secretariat is supposed to be in office two to three years after the commencement of the Act.

“All these Parastatals have substantial assets in all counties which can easily be siphoned off by corrupt individuals if the transition process is not managed well. This is an urgent matter that needs to be prioritised by the Ministry,” said Committee Vice Chair Kareke Mbiuki.

The MPs took issue with Koskei’s move in January this year to suspend the formation of the interim secretariat that is officially called The Agricultural Sector Coordinating Unit.

The MPs alleged the move has paralysed implementation of the new law.

It emerged Tuesday that a planned meeting between the committee and officials of the Sugar Board of Kenya was cancelled after MPs declined to meet them terming KSB an illegal entity.

The aborted meeting had been listed in the committee official schedule.

It appears that MPs had invited KSB officials for the meeting but cancelled upon recalling that the body is legally non-existent since the sugar officials could not have presented themselves without official invitation.

According to the Act the Cabinet Secretary in charge of Agriculture shall review all legal notices establishing the collapsed Parastatals to enable the transfer of assets , liabilities and functions to the new authority.