Senate Alarmed Over Ksh580 Million Used to Clear Bushes at Galana Kulalu

Principal Secretary for Irrigation, Professor Fred Sugor, startled the Senate Committee on Agriculture on Tuesday when he disclosed that Ksh580 million had been used to clear thickets at the Galana Kulalu mega-project. 

The committee chair, Senator Ndwiga Peter Njeru, and the other members directed the Auditor General, Edward Ouko, to conduct a forensic audit of the entire project following the damning revelation.

"We are staring at another white elephant and stand to lose a lot of money if we don't handle things well," Njeru asserted.

Back in September 2014, the multi-billion shilling mega-project was commissioned with Israel based company Greenarava awarded the Ksh14.5 billion contract to grow maize on the 10,000-acre model firm.

However, the contract was later revised to Ksh7.2 billion, with Ksh6.1 billion reportedly already paid up.

The committee was thus perturbed during the sitting when they learned that almost half of the projected work was yet to kick off.

Reports by KTN  News stated that only 600 acres were actually actively under maize cultivation, with just 5100 acres complete, out of the initially projected 10,000 acres.

Greenarava's legal advisor, Ken Kamau, on his part, stated that the process of clearing the land in order for the contractor to be able to set up the irrigation equipment took too long, going on to reveal that the exercise was to be carried out by the National Irrigation Board (NIB).

At the moment, the contractor and the NIB are at an impasse due to contractual challenges following the delays of the project that was supposed to be completed by 2016.

Njeru went on to state that the auditor general's office had been directed to carry out the audit within 30 days, after which they'd provide a detailed report of the entire project.