The National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) is once again on the spot after more than 750,000 bags of maize valued at Sh1.8 billion in its stores went bad.
The maize was ruined after the board ignored warnings from store managers that the insecticide they were using was ineffective because the pests were resistant to it.
Auditor-general Edward Ouko in his report says this is a case where better management would have spared taxpayers the loss. In the report, Mr Ouko also shows that Sh4.5 billion said to have been used to import the maize last year cannot be verified as the management could not provide payment vouchers.
This brings to Sh10 billion the money that cannot be properly accounted for at NCPB. Before the weevils, Sh1.9 billion that was meant to pay farmers had ended up in the pockets of brokers. Another Sh2.1 billion worth of fertiliser that was to be distributed to farmers cannot also be accounted for.
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