Following a damming auditor's report that showed a government parastatal had accumulated Ksh857 million in liabilities, President Uhuru Kenyatta announced changes to its board management.
In a gazette notice dated March 25, the Head of State appointed Engineer George Wachira to be the Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Pyrethrum Processing Company of Kenya.
The appointment is for a period of three years with effect from March 28, 2021.
At the same time, Agriculture CS Peter Munya appointed Stella Wanjiru, Lawrence Ngari, Bowen Chebwai,
Nasra Kochale, Janaro Ithinji, to be members of the Board.
The appointments come after a recent report by Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu showed that the parastatal had negative working capital of Ksh481 million for the year ending June 30, 2019.
The report found that the company's assets stood at Ksh376 million against the total current liabilities of Ksh857 million.
She observed that the company was technically insolvent and was in urgent need of government support to maintain its operations.
"The company is, therefore, technically insolvent and its continued existence is dependent upon the financial support of the government and its creditors," Gathungu noted.
In a disturbing discovery, the auditor found that the company was not in possession of land ownership documents for its land.
"The company did not provide ownership documents of 18 parcels of land valued at Ksh354 million for audit review," the report read in part.
In 2020, CS Munya assured farmers that the government would inject Ksh1 billion into the revival of the pyrethrum sub-sector to bolster rural economies in pyrethrum growing counties.
This was after the farmers called on the government to introduce reforms to save the sector and fast-track its revival.
