Lesiyampe attracts wrath of House committee for snubbing subsidised fertiliser probe

Agriculture Principal Secretary Richard Lesiyampe

Agriculture Principal Secretary Richard Lesiyampe yesterday failed to turn up for a parliamentary committee hearing to respond to audit queries.

The National Assembly's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) wanted him to clear the air over queries raised by Auditor General Edward Ouko in relation to possible irregularities in the purchase of subsidised fertiliser. There are concerns the Government could have lost Sh274.5 million.

In his capacity as the accounting officer in the Department of Crops Development, Mr Lesiyampe, and his counterpart in agriculture research Hamadi Boga, were ordered to appear before PAC this morning.

“We sent invitations for them to appear but they have not appeared and neither have they responded in any other form.

We are directing that they now must appear here tomorrow (today) and respond to among other things the irregularities raised in the procurement of subsidised fertiliser, which led to massive loss of public funds,” said PAC Chairman Opiyo Wandayi (Ugunja).

The summons come barely a week after Public Service Principal Secretary Lillian Mbogo-Omollo and National Youth Service (NYS) Director General Richard Ndubai received similar summons after they failed to appear to respond to queries relating to a scandal at NYS.