Kenya’s Members of Parliament have given Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Haji the go-ahead to prosecute individuals indicted in the Sh485 million procurement scandal of subsidised fertiliser and gunny bags.
The approval comes on the heels of last week’s passage of the report of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on the audited accounts of the government for the year 2016/17, by the National Assembly.
On the centre of the scandal are officials from the Agriculture Ministry and the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB), who sat in the committees that gave approval for the award of the controversial contracts, contrary to provisions of the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act.
“The DPP should, within three months of adoption of this report, take up the matter with a view to prosecuting all those found culpable,” says the report.
In the same vein, the MPs also adopted the committee’s finding that it was unable to confirm whether the government actually imported maize valued at Sh11.7 billion during the period under review following the failure of the Agriculture Principal Secretary Hamadi Boga to produce all the required documentation in support of the purported import.