Posted on June, 22, 2018 at 09:11 am
By Moses Njagih
An internal audit has revealed how cereals board silo managers ignored basic regulations on purchase of maize, leading to unaccounted process of deliveries and payments. The report shows how traders, assisted by National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) officers at the depots, infiltrated the process, as there was hardly vetting conducted to ensure that only genuine farmers delivered cereals.
According to the report, documents were altered in favour of traders who ended up making a kill in the process that lacked necessary checks after the NCPB staff failed to adhere to the guidelines from the Ministry of Agriculture and the board. The report issued on June 4 faults the depot managers for failing to ensure the vetting of farmers is undertaken prior to them delivering the cereals. It has recommended the streamlining of the process in future.
The audit revealed weaknesses in the forms used by the board once maize is delivered, saying they lacked any security features and could easily be replicated, as may have happened, leading to multiple payments. The audit for the 2017/2018 season maize purchase conducted in five silos in Eldoret, Moi’s Bridge, Nakuru, Kisumu and Bungoma, further revealed that some of the maize recently bought were in poor moisture content and quality and may easily go bad unless urgent drying and fumigation measures are undertaken.
Willy Koskei, the Kisumu silo manager, was taken to task to explain the unapproved deliveries of 75,131 bags against a circular issued on October 30, last year from the Operation’s Manager, which prohibits them from purchasing the cereals without a clearance form being signed by the authorised officers. “This is aimed at ensuring that only genuine farmers sell their maize to the board,” explains the circular. The silo managers are also faulted for failing to adhere to a November 14, 2016 guideline, requiring that “at no time shall a depot manager receive maize from farmers who do not appear in the farmers' register”.
“It was observed that the silo managers in the five depots were not making reference to the farmers' register prior to accepting maize, and disciplinary action is recommended against them,” states the report tabled before the National Assembly’s Public Investment Committee. It says the same guidelines had been communicated to respective regional managers to ensure compliance.
Source: Standard Digital