Guns trained on State over missing Sh114 million

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has asked the Ministry of Agriculture to explain the whereabouts of Sh114 million missing in Government books.

In a draft report seen by The Standard, the committee also wants details of nine firms in which the Government invested millions of shillings through the Agricultural Development Corporation.

MPs want Agriculture Principal Secretary Sicily Kariuki to provide the information before the end of this year.

Earlier, Auditor General Edward Ouko had complained that the records of Government shares in parastatals were poorly kept, which made it easy to pilfer the money.

“The ministry did not maintain proper records and other related documentation in respect of participation by the Government in Quasi-Government and other statutory organisations but relied on information provided by the respective entities. No justification has been provided for this gross omission,” the PAC report notes.

The mystery of the missing Sh114 million from the books in the 2010-2011 financial year, when Deputy President William Ruto was the Agriculture minister, is just one of the many queries the parliamentary watchdog committee investigated.

The PAC report, whose final version is expected in the House this week, also wants the PS to step up the pursuit of people who have refused to pay money back to the Government after they got services from the Agricultural Mechanisation Services. The committee found that Sh43 million was owed to the Government and recovery was doubtful.

“While it was true that substantial amounts were still owed by individuals and institutions, the ministry had made concerted efforts to forcefully recover the same from debtors through civil litigation process. The State Law Office has written demand letters and follow-up was being made to recover the arrears,” the committee was told as it compiled its report. The debtors had exploited the poor record keeping methods at the ministry and the parastatals that charge for Government services to dodge paying for the services rendered.

Some of the debtors have gone to their graves with Government money, and the Ministry of Agriculture is in talks with Treasury to write off debts.

The 29-member committee chaired by Ababu Namwamba (Budalang’i) is also concerned that the State is holding dead stock in six companies that have since been wound up or are performing badly. Nkuene Farmers’ Co-operative – a 1959 acquisition of 10 shares valued at Sh290 - was meant to help farmers in Kaguru, Meru district, to market their coffee. It was liquidated in 2005.

And Pyrethrum Board of Kenya had 462 stocks valued at Sh9,240 allocated to Pyrethrum Office, Molo; South Kinangop Njabini and Ol Joro Orok Farmers training centres.

“The institutions were no longer growing pyrethrum and even if they were to do so, it is no longer necessary for a farmer to own shares or stocks in order to market farm produce.