Agriculture CS Mithika Linturi has once again found himself of the spot following reports that fertilizer worth Kshs197 million from Russia disappeared before arriving at the National Cereals and Produce Board.
According to the Auditor General Nancy Gathungu, the consignment weighing 564.1 metric tonnes disappeared last year.
“NCPB received 33,835.9 metric tonnes, hence a short landing of 564.1 metric tonnes from the 34,400 metric tonnes donated by Russia. The cause of the short landing was not explained,” Gathungu said.
The missing fertiliser was part of the 34,000 tonnes of raw fertilizer that Russia donated in a bid to gain support from Africa amid its war with Ukraine.
In her audit report, Gathungu stated that the missing fertilizer disappeared during transportation and it never made to the Mombasa port.
She further said that there was no transparency in the whole shipping process.
“However, other costs associated with the raw material of fertilizer such as shipping cost, transportation cost from the port to the granulator, and handling costs were not disclosed and therefore it is not clear how much the Board was incurring per 50 kg bag,” wrote Gathungu.
The Russian fertilizer scandal comes after the fake fertilizer scandal that hit the country a few weeks ago, with Kenyans calling for Linturi’ s resignation in the recent protests.
Linturi survived an impeachment motion over the fake fertilizer scandal after a special parliamentary committee found that the allegations he was facing were unsubstantiated.
“The allegations under Ground 1 on gross violation of the constitution, Ground 2 on serious reason for believing that the cabinet secretary has committed a crime under national law and Ground 3 on gross misconduct, as outlined in the special motion, are unsubstantiated,” the committee told the National Assembly.
