Three permanent secretaries are in trouble after the National Assembly established that funds allocated for emergency relief food could not be accounted for.
The Parliament has now summoned Interior PS Karanja Kibicho, Devolution PS Julius Korir, and Arid and Semi-Arid Lands PS Micah Puwon to appear before the lawmakers on Monday so as to explain how the Kshs3.3 billion that was allocated for emergency relief food was used.
The three will be required to provide a detailed report on how the funds were spent on Monday October 4.
The directive was issued by the chair of the Public Accounts Committee Opiyo Wandayi who claimed that there was no evidence that the money was distributed to the targeted groups.
This comes after a meeting with Puwon and Devolution Secretary in charge of programmes Isaac Githui, who failed to explain the anomaly.
“I am giving you up to Monday next week to sit down with Kibicho and your counterpart Korir from Devolution and come up with a report of how the money was spent,” Wandayi remarked.
He noted that matters relating to refugees’ assistance and relief food are very sensitive and the permanent secretaries will not have it easy in case they fail to account for the money.
Wandayi asked the three PSs to appear before the committee with a breakdown on how the money was spent and include returns if there were any.
“Please, in that report give us a breakdown of everything including any returns,” Wandayi said.
The auditor general Nancy Gathungu had raised concerns on the expenditure of the money that was allocated for refugees’ assistance and relief food during the 2018/2019 financial year.
Gathungu’s investigations raised questions prompting her to summon the permanent secretaries.
Puwon, who was the first to be summoned argued that that issues on relief food do not fall within their ministry.
“This function does not fall under our jurisdiction. It falls under the Ministry of Devolution and I would request you to direct it there,” he said.
Githui on his side pointed that ministry of interior should be answerable to the matter since it deals with matters of food distribution directly.
“Our efforts to have us recruit our own staff have not been successful. The Deputy County Commissioners and County Commissioners, who fall under the Interior Ministry, cannot take instructions from us,” Githui remarked.
The auditor general established that there was no evidence or accountability to show that money was allocated to counties in need.
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