The Treasury CS Ukur Yattani has been directed to close a bank account with close to Ksh3 billion that has been lying idle in a local bank.
The billions had been meant for the provision of car loans to civil servants as mandated by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) in 2014.
A report published by the Business Daily on Tuesday, December 3, indicated that the National Assembly Public Accounts Committee (PAC) ordered the Treasury to either facilitate the speedy allocation of the car loans or transfer the billions to the government's account for reallocation to other projects.
"The CS and the National Treasury should within three months of tabling and adoption of the report, roll out the fund to the state officers in order to achieve the objective of providing motor car loans to civil servants,"
"If this is not possible, withdraw all the money plus interest deposited at the bank and appropriate money to the exchequer," the statement for the PAC chair Opiyo Wandayi read.
The publication further reported that the treasury had been allocating millions to the car loans fund, leading to its growth from Ksh2.8 billion in 2018 to Ksh3.5 billion in 2019.
This fund has, however, been facing a slow uptake from the civil servants and the Treasury was thus revamping itself with a view to making it easy for those eligible to access the loans.
Wandayi, taking into consideration the efforts by Treasury to increase uptake, announced that it would be better for the funds to be utilised in another capacity while the Treasury was getting its house in order.
"Although the amount has been confirmed to exist, it could have been utilised for other more deserving cases in the government while the National Treasury continues to create an enabling environment for the funds' operations," the PAC chair stated.
The publication also reported that the move had been necessitated by the government's cash crunch which had been occasioned by the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) failing to hit its revenue targets.
Reports from the Treasury to the National Assembly indicate that the country experienced a revenue shortfall of Ksh60.2 billion in the three months leading up to September 2019.
