The Kisii county government's agriculture department has been alleged to being unable to account for the Sh30 million that was previously earmarked for the construction of Sombogo tea factory in Kitutu Chache sub-county.
These claims are said to have been revealed by the 2014/2015 financial year budget review by the Kisii county assembly joint committee on implementation and Public Accounts Committee(PAC)
However, according to the details given last Tuesday by the executive committee members in charge of the agriculture department, Vincent Sagwe, when he appeared before the joint committee.
The funds which were approved by the county assembly under sombogo tea factory were yet to be approved by the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA).
Sagwe was responding to questions raised by a section of the joint committee members on the fate of the funds since the funding of Sombogo tea factory by the Kisii county government had been overturned by the controller of budgets, on the basis that the factory was a private project whose construction was supposed to be funded by the farmers.
There was drama when Sengera /Bosoti ward MCA Timothy Nyarango claimed that the county assembly was duped to approve funds after the Sombogo tea factory was changed to Sombogo tea development as a strategy to have the Sh30 million for the project approved.