Parliamentarians foiled spirited efforts to gag Galana-Kulalu report

What you need to know:

  • The Galana-Kulalu project was initiated to solve food insecurity in Kenya by putting one million acres under irrigation.
  • The National Irrigation Board was allocated Sh13.8 billion in the 2015/16 budget.
  • Of this, Sh3.5 billion was for the Galana-Kulalu project. It got a similar amount in the last financial year.

MPs rushed to make public their recommendations on the Galana-Kulalu food security project to forestall spirited efforts by ruling coalition officials to water it down, the Sunday Nation has learnt.
The National Assembly’s Agriculture Committee on Thursday recommended that the multi-billion shilling Jubilee flagship project be suspended and re-evaluated.
It, however, made public its findings before it could table the report in Parliament.
The committee also called on the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission to investigate suspicions officials were fraudulently enriching themselves.
Also recommended was a special audit for the financial years 2013/14, 2014/15 and 2015/16.

BEHIND-THE-SCENES
The behind-the-scenes intrigues have sucked in State House and the Office of the President, which has reportedly been unhappy with the manner the URP headed Agriculture ministry was running the project.
As members were putting final touches to the report, they started receiving calls from individuals in the Harambee House Annex office of Deputy President William Ruto who were unhappy with the committee’s recommendations.
State House and the Office of the President, on the other hand, were egging on the MPs, albeit cautiously for fear of a public backlash following a recent wave of corruption scandals.
“The project was being pushed by one wing of the coalition (URP) which, if you recall, had resisted the hiving of the irrigation docket to Eugene Wamalwa’s Water ministry.

On the other hand, TNA, on realising they were not included in the project, started to look for an exit strategy,” a source in the committee said.
The MPs said even though they had the backing of the TNA side, they were surprised when senior figures in government started reaching out to them.

MEDIA TO THE RESCUE
“Since time would not allow us to table the report in Parliament, we sneaked in some media people where members were holding a closed door meeting. When they realised this, some members protested but the majority of us stood our ground,” a member of the committee said.
It was then decided to make public the findings even if it meant contravening parliamentary procedures.
The Galana-Kulalu project, launched in January 2014 and touted as the answer to food insecurity in Kenya, was to put a million acres under irrigation.
Since its launch by President Uhuru Kenyatta in 2014, questions have been raised about its slow pace of implementation and, more recently, the below-par yield of 10 bags of maize per acre instead of the projected 40.

BUDGET ALLOCATIONS FOR GALANA PROJECT

The National Irrigation Board was allocated Sh13.8 billion in the 2015/16 budget. Of this, Sh3.5 billion was for the Galana-Kulalu project. It got a similar amount in the last financial year.

Ugunja MP Opiyo Wandayi,  a member of the committee, said a close scrutiny of the project shows it was never meant to end food shortages but to create opportunities for “tenderpreneurs”.

“This is Anglo Leasing 2 ... a scandal of monumental proportions. The project was clearly conceived and executed to create avenues for some people to make quick and obscene money. Evidently, taxpayers have been cheated and the effects of this white elephant shall reverberate for a long time,” Mr Wandayi said.

The government signed a Sh14.5 billion deal with NIB and Green Arava (GA), an Israeli fresh produce export company, to fast-track the setting up of a 10,000-acre model farm.
“It is tragic. Some fraudsters brokered their way into government with the singular obsession of misusing State offices to loot. They’ve really failed Jubilee. Our efforts to help President Kenyatta slay these dragons of graft are unstoppable. Luckily, the boss (Mr Kenyatta) is with us,” Mukurweini MP Kabando wa Kabando said.
According to Mr Wandayi, signs that the project would not succeed were evident from the tendering stage.
“The contract was for the construction of a 10,000 acre model farm. The deadline for submission of tender documents was August 11, 2014 and opening was on the same day. The letter of offer was issued on August 8, 2014 and pre-contract negotiations done the following day. The contract was signed on August 20, 2014,” he said.
In addition, the MP said, it was inconceivable that the entire million-acre project would be in one place when there were other regions that could have been included.
“Despite assurances by government mandarins that the Israeli government would partly finance the project, not a single cent has been received. The Kenya Government has pumped in a whopping Sh7.5 million to implement less than 10 per cent of the project,” he said.
The MPs are also questioning why the Attorney-General’s office was sidelined.

They told Sunday Nation Attorney-General Githu Muigai, in a memorandum to the committee, expressed “grave reservations” about the process.