Kenya Stares At Kshs 2.3 Billion Loss In New Maize Scandal

A new report before Parliament now reveals that National Cereals and Producing Board cannot provide an account for Sh 2.3 Billion which was proceeds from the sale of fertilizers.

The report tabled by Auditor General Edward Ouko for the financial year ended June 30th, 2018 noted that the cereals body did not account for the money over the sale of 2,303,235 million bags of fertilizers.

“No evidence was provided to show that the State Department carried out any reconciliations for sales made and quantity delivered by or outstanding from each of the suppliers as of June 30, 2018,” the report read.

According to the report, NCPB did not bank all revenue realized from the sale of local blends of fertilizer that were procured by the State Department of Agriculture to Kenya Commercial Bank for transmission to the Central Bank of Kenya.

During the period, NCPB sold fertilizers to farmers at subsidized prices of Sh1,500 for a 50kg bag of all planting fertilizers like DAP and NPK blends and all top dressing fertilizers such as CAN, UREA and Sh1,300 for a 50kg bag of Sulphate Ammonia.

The report further noted that additional suspicious 200,000 bags of DAP fertilizer were introduced into the system.

“It is not clear how 100,000 bags of NPK, 50,000 bags of blend four and 24,000 bags of blend nine were distributed,” it added.

Last year, the auditor general raised a concern that the cereals board could not account for over Sh 2 billion allocated for the purchase of the fertilizer.

“Apart from an invoice and a schedule raised by the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB), no other verifiable document was produced for audit to confirm the actual quantity of fertilizer bought by NCPB, the quantity sold to the farmers and the purchase and selling price,” Mr. Ouko said.

Featured Image Courtesy: Kbc.co.ke