Audit Committee Adjourns Sitting With AFA For Third Time Following Change In Management
Acting AFA Director General Willie's Audi before the parliamentary committee yesterday
By PSCU
Worth Noting:
- “How can the entity ensure they are out of the cycle of acting positions. The committee needs to be sure that it is dealing with someone who will be available in the near future to respond to matters raised by the committee,” she added.
- AFA is facing a myriad of audit queries including the loss of land measuring 137.2 hectares out of the 236.35 hectares in Thika, Kiambu County, was registered in the name of a former chairman of the defunct Coffee Research Foundation.
- Audit reports revealed that the Agency does not have a title deed for a piece of land worth an estimated 1.28 billion shillings.
Parliamentary Members of the Public Investments Committee on Social Services, Administration and Agriculture were surprised to learn that the Director General of Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA) an agency they had called to a meeting had left office the previous day.
The Committee chaired by Navakholo MP Emmanuel Wangwe met with Mr. Willies Audi the new acting Director General for the Agriculture and Food Authority instead of Ms. Beatrice Nyamwamu who had appeared in previous meetings.
Former MP Connelly Serem who chairs the new AFA board informed the committee that Ms. Nyamwamu had been recalled back to the Ministry of Agriculture after her tenure at AFA came to a close.
“Has the outgoing CEO handed over to you, do you have the instruments of the office?” Wangwe questioned the new Director General, to which he defended his suitability, arguing that the appointment letter will suffice, and that he has been attending previous meetings with the Committee as scheduled.
Curiously, committee members learnt that holding office for short stints was a norm at AFA.
Since the inception of AFA in 2014, a total of five CEOs had headed the entity that for the Financial Year 2018/2019 alone, 47 audit queries have been raised by the Office of the Auditor General.
Moreover, almost the entire list of directors for the seven directorates in AFA are on acting capacity.
Maragua MP, Alice Wamaua expressed her fears that the situation of constantly changing AFA bosses might be more of a design, than by accident.
“How can the entity ensure they are out of the cycle of acting positions. The committee needs to be sure that it is dealing with someone who will be available in the near future to respond to matters raised by the committee,” she added.
AFA is facing a myriad of audit queries including the loss of land measuring 137.2 hectares out of the 236.35 hectares in Thika, Kiambu County, was registered in the name of a former chairman of the defunct Coffee Research Foundation.
Audit reports revealed that the Agency does not have a title deed for a piece of land worth an estimated 1.28 billion shillings.
AFA has also been unable to evict a private developer occupying its plots along Mombasa Road valued at 695 million shillings. Another piece of land in Embakasi, Nairobi worth Sh1.6 billion shillings belonging to AFA remains unutilized and prone to encroachment by informal settlements in the area.
According to the Auditor General, AFA also lost Sh52 million shillings in the defunct Euro Bank.
It could also not account for payments made to sugar farmers.
Available details indicate that sugar companies were paid a total amount of Sh267,162,688 for farmer’s arrears through commercial banks and Sh234,190,618 was paid to SACCOs on behalf of farmers.
No returns from the financial institutions were provided.
It is on the basis of these and other issues termed as weighty by the committee that the matter of lack of a substantive Director General raised committee antennae.
“There is need for the new DG to familiarize himself with matters at hand,” said Saboti legislator, Caleb Amisi, also Vice Chair to the committee.
Agricultural and Food Authority was directed to return before the committee on June 14th and 15th to substantively respond to the audit issues before it.
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