Environment Principal Secretary Festus Ng'eno on Thursday, March 21, unearthed details of a separate bank account used to receive Ksh3.9 billion in funds for the Africa Climate Summit (ACS) held in September 2023.
During a session held by the National Assembly, Forestry and Mining Committee, MPs sought to determine the total amount of funds allocated by the government for the Summit and establish if the funds were utilised efficiently.
Part of the role of a committee in Parliament involves scrutinising governance activities, programmes and policies and assessing whether they meet the intended objectives.
While making his submissions, PS Ng'eno revealed that the government approved a total budget of USD 28 million, translating to Ksh3.9 billion for the event.
To properly manage the funds, they formed a partnership with Pricewaterhouse Coopers Limited (PwC).
Turkana Central MP Joseph Emathe requested PS Ng'eno to provide the Committee with a closing balance certificate to ascertain the transparency in the use of the funds.
A closing balance certificate details the amount of money remaining in an account after a specified period.
"From your submission, we received money from various sources, donor funds, and Bilateral funds among others amounting to millions of dollars. I can see that other monies were not directly remitted to your account. How then can this Committee confirm the closing balance without a certificate?" Emathe questioned.
On his part, the PS noted that he received a letter from Treasury Cabinet Secretary Njuguna Ndung'u allowing them to open an account to receive the funds.
He added that matters about the Summit were done under the discretion of President Ruto.
"Kenya was allowed to host the Summit through the African Union (AU) hold the rights to host the Summit and this is because of the pivotal role played by the president on matters environment and climate change," he stated.
"Therefore, we were only beneficiaries in other African Countries. Hon. Chair I can confirm that the AU only supported the secretariat."
The Summit, held in Nairobi from September 4, 2023, to September 8, 2023, aimed at addressing the effects of climate change in Africa and globally. Following the summit that was convened by continental leaders, they unveiled the Nairobi declaration to serve as Africa's position in the stand for global climate change.
