Deputy President William Ruto has announced a plan to merge three government bodies into one in a bid to improve efficiency.
Speaking in his office while launching a 14-member task force, the DP stated that the parastatals, which work closely, would be merged to reduce wastage.
The corporations to be affected are the Agricultural Development Corporation (ADC), Agricultural Finance Corporation (AFC) and National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB).
“I don’t see why we should not merge the three because it will increase efficiency, resolve overlaps and make better use of resources,” he announced.
The task force launched will be in charge of overseeing the merger and comprises officers from the three bodies and those from the Office of the Deputy President, Ministry of Agriculture, National Treasury and Public Service.
[caption caption="DP William Ruto, Agriculture CS Mwangi Kiunjuri and PS Richard Lesiyampe"]
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DP Ruto directed the task force to draft recommendations on how the three corporations will be merged efficiently within the next three months for better service delivery.
“A robust agricultural sector is key to the country’s economic development and improvement of the peoples living standards. These state corporations have no choice but to merge,” he stated.
He further warned that since some of the parastatals had deteriorated in terms of performance, strict measures would be undertaken to change the narrative.
“We need to review the performance of some state corporations including taking painful decisions with a view to ensuring they live to the expectations of Kenyans as far as service delivery is concerned,” asserted Ruto.
The forum was also attended by Agriculture CS Mwangi Kiunjuri and his Principal Secretary Richard Lesiyampe.
[caption caption="Agriculture CS Mwangi Kiunjuri, PS Richard Lesiyampe with other officials during the meeting"]
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Recently, NCPB was faced by a Ksh1.9 Billion scandal where senior officials in cahoot with cartels benefited from money meant for genuine maize farmers.
Well connected unscrupulous traders are said to have been paid millions for supplying thousands of nonexistent bags of maize.
A report tabled before the National Assembly Public Accounts Committee led by Ugunja MP Opiyo Wandayi exposed how 18 of these traders benefited from the money at the expense of genuine farmers.
