House team summons Water CS Eugene Wamalwa over Sh2bn spending

Water and Irrigation Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa has been summoned by a parliamentary committee after failing to honour six invitations to explain issues in his ministry, among them an expense of Sh2 billion.

Members of the committee reacted with fury after Mr Wamalwa sent a letter to the committee minutes before it started, the sixth such correspondence responding to an invitation.

The committee’s vice-chairman Kareke Mbiuki said the ministry is misappropriating Sh2 billion meant for state agencies to construct water pans and drill boreholes.

“The State Department of Irrigation is now in the process of building water pans and boreholes without geological studies, designs and proper plans. We don’t know the process used to identify the places where this work is being done,” said Mr Mbiuki.

The Maara MP said he had been called by an officer from the Water ministry and asked to say where a borehole that they plan to drill in his constituency should be located.

“There are no plans. This is a scandal coming and we must prevent another NYS in the Jubilee government. We must arrest it and prevent it from happening,” said Mr Mbiuki.

The same issue has also come up at the Environment and Natural Resources Committee, with members questioning how the Sh2 billion projects were allocated across the country.

That committee had also questioned the decision to have the Sh2 billion transferred to the Department of Irrigation rather than to parastatals, which they said have the expertise and equipment to build the pans and boreholes.

Agriculture Committee chairman Mohammed Nooru said Mr Wamalwa was meant to shed light on how the ministry is handling the current drought in various parts of the country and the Sh2 billion spending and to update them on the Galana-Kulalu irrigation project.

“The minister has failed to appear [before] this committee and if he fails to honour the summons, there are constituencies,” said the Mandera North MP.

Ugunja MP Opiyo Wandayi proposed that the committee suspend approval of everything related to the ministry, the Budget Policy Statement included, until Mr Wamalwa honours the summons.

MPs agreed with the proposal.