Treasury CS Uhuru Yattani has sent home former Education Minister Noah Wekesa after disbanding the board of the troubled Strategic Food Reserve (SFR) that the former minister chaired.
Yattani made the move when he revoked the Public Finance Management (Strategic Food Reserve Trust Fund) Regulations put in place in 2015 that birthed the Trust Fund.
“The Public Finance Management (Strategic Food Reserve Trust Fund) Regulations, 2015 are revoked,” stated Yattani.
Agriculture CS Peter Munya had raised concern over the trust arguing that its roles were similar to those of the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB).
NCPB has been accusing the SFR of unpaid debts running into millions for services rendered to the Wekesa-led entity.
“The decision to disband SFR is largely seen as a plan by some people to mismanage the funds that we have in our accounts,” argued Wekesa after a decision to disband it.
The Cabinet had, in March, directed Yattani to disband the Fund within a period of six months.
Shortly after the order, dissenting voices emerged claiming that SFR was better placed to handle farmers' issues with a specific example being drawn from an incident in which farmers were lamenting that the NCPB had orchestrated a move to have maize imported while that produced in Kenya was being ignored.
The initial plan had been to have the SFR serve as a department under the NCPB.
