Posted on January, 30, 2019 at 08:47 am
MERCY MILANOI
Maize farmers may not receive fertiliser for the next planting season, Agriculture chief administrative secretary Andrew Tuimur has said.
Speaking during the launch of the Agricultural Sector Transformation and Growth Strategy, Tuimur said the distribution exercise and those involved are now being investigated by the Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC).
This comes a few days after maize farmers were up in arms on the purchase of maize and lack of fertiliser ahead of the planting season in the next few months with their fears, that the subsidised fertiliser will not be delivered on time, becoming a reality as the ministry confirms delays in delivery.
“We had a contract that was running for three years which lapsed January 11 but before we could finalise another fertiliser contract the Attorney General and DCI raised a number of issues regarding the contract. We had to pull back to allow time for the issues to be resolved first,” said Tuimur.
The investigations are part of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee recommendations after examination of the Auditor General’s report on the National Government financial statements for the year ended June 30, 2015.
PAC recommended that the DCI and EACC should, within three months of tabling of the report, investigate the payment of Sh2.1 billion to the National Cereals and Produce Board to determine if indeed public money was utilised for the intended purpose and the total amount realised from the purported sale of subsidised fertiliser to farmers by the government and allow for prosecution, if evidence permits.
Source: MediaMax Network