The National Treasury has asked Parliament to initiate investigations into Sh4 billion that was paid last year to ghost millers during the subsidy programme just before the general elections.
Treasury Cabinet Secretary Njuguna Ndung’u has said that even though there is evidence of payments being made, he cannot trace firms that were paid up to Sh4 billion yet there is a demand for payment of a similar amount in pending bills.
Parliament should assist us to investigate the Sh4 billion subsidy money because we do not have capacity to do it ourselves as it might take a political angle,” Prof Ndung’u has told the Budget Appropriation Committee.
Retired President Uhuru Kenyatta had before the elections introduced a Sh8 billion subsidy to tame the high cost of maize flour that had topped Sh250 for a two-kilogramme packet. The scheme lowered the cost of the staple to Sh100 for a few months before the prices spiked again after the elections.
The subsidy however restricted millers to sell flour at Sh100 for a two-kilogramme packet, creating a shortage of the commodity on shelves, forcing supermarkets to limit purchases to two packets.
