Reports from the office of the Auditor General Edward Ouko has unearthed another scandal where taxpayers are said to have lost Ksh20billion. According to the 2015-2016 financial report, the money had been allocated to the National IrrigationBoard (NIB) for irrigation schemes but somehow went missing.
The missing funds which cover three financial years were misplaced after the NIB failed to adhere to procurement rules as required by the law. One of the main projects affected by the scandal under investigation is the Ksh7.3 billion Galana-Kulalu irrigation scheme which President Uhuru Kenyatta launched in January 2014.
Besides, officials from the Irrigation Board inflated costs, cooked financial books, and undertook ghost projects. NIB leased land for a five-year period from the Agricultural Development Corporation at an inflated cost totaling up to Ksh3.6 billion, a deal that could cost taxpayersKsh360 million.
It is said the board could not also explain why it leased 20,000 acres for five years yet only 10,000 acres were required. Although the project was expected to produce 20 million bags of maize, the Auditor Generals report indicates that only 103,000 bags have been produced since the commissioning of Galana-Kulalu irrigation scheme.
Other concerns raised in the report include the fact that 21 irrigation projects initiated in 2012for Ksh880 million have stalled with NIB seeking an extra Ksh15 billion to complete them. The board members' expenses shot up by 740 percent from Ksh3.4 million to Ksh25 million in one year.
During the Madaraka Day celebrations, Uhuru repeated his commitment against rampant cases of graft in the country promising to introduce lie-detector as a vetting process for the National Irrigation Board scandal is likely to be a major impediment to the food security drive which is among President Uhuru's Big Four Agenda