Spotlight on Uhuru programmes as many are investigated by Parliament, cancelled altogether or referred to DCI

Most multibillion-shilling projects and programmes started and undertaken during President Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration between 2013 and 2022 have either been cancelled or are under investigation.

While Members of the National Assembly and Senate have commenced scrutinising some of these projects, others have been referred to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) while others have been cancelled altogether, raising questions on prudent use of public resources by the government.

The latest is Sh6.3 billion maize subsidy programme that the National Assembly has referred to the DCI. Others are the Sh147 billion utilised under an emergency clause that allows spending, pending approval by Parliament; the Sh72 billion Nairobi Expressway tender; Sh6.091 billion Telkom Kenya shares buyback and the Sh9 billion EduAfya programme started in 2018.

Doubts by Cabinet Secretary

The National Assembly Agriculture Committee has been looking into the maize subsidy since last year when it emerged that the programme actually never served its intended purpose despite being allocated huge amounts of money.

The committee, which is chaired by Tigania West MP John Mutunga, began looking into the subsidy when it emerged that millers were yet to be paid their full dues several months after the conclusion of the programme.

Appearing before the committee last year, Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mithika Linturi raised doubts on some of the pending bills.

“Only small millers have proved to have done something and Sh532 million is worth being paid out. I cannot tell what the big millers did,” the minister told the lawmakers.

The maize subsidy is among the programme that guzzled huge amounts in the last days of Mr Kenyatta’s presidency under Article 223 of the Constitution.

The article allows the National Treasury to spend on emergencies without the approval of the National Assembly and Senate.

In August last year, lawmakers told maize processors that they risked not being paid for the programme if they failed to provide proper documentation for supplying the flour.

Among the conditions the committee demanded the millers to satisfy was provision of the daily purchases of the flour by outlets, the quantities released to the market as verified by the Multi-Agency Team (MAT) and proof of payment of taxes. Some of the anomalies pointed out by the lawmakers in the documents provided by millers were lack of quantities supplied, outlets they supplied to and lack of approval and recipient notes by the multi-agency team in the outlets the flour was said to have been supplied to.

Mr Kenyatta introduced the programme in mid-2022, saying it was an effort to tame the skyrocketing prices of flour and other basic items.

Many analysts, experts and his opponents saw the programme as a political tool to attract voters on his side of the political divide ahead of the August 2022 General Election.

Nairobi expressway

Under the programme, Kenyans were to purchase a 2-kilogramme packet of sifted maize flour at Sh100 instead of the prevailing market price of Sh210. Also under investigation is the Sh147 billion spent under emergency clause during the 10-year administration of Mr Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto.

The National Assembly Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which is chaired by Nominated MP John Mbadi, is to launch investigations after a special report by Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu showed that a lot of money withdrawn for the emergency was spent in questionable ways.

Some of the money was used to finance projects that cannot be classified as “emergency” as required by the Public Finance Management Act, the report by Ms Gathungu says.

The National Assembly has also been investigating the Sh72 billion expressway tender undertaken during the last term of Mr Kenyatta. The Committee on Finance and National Planning and the Senate launched an investigation on the project last year following complaints from motorists and concerned citizens.

The decision to start investigating the project also came up when lawmakers were discussing the new regulations that are expected to guide the handling of Public-private partnership (PPP) projects.

According to the lawmakers, a provision containing an agreement that compelled the contractor to upgrade the lower deck of the road upon completion of the highway was deleted at the eleventh hour and a new tender valued at Sh9 billion for the same works was on the cards just after the General Election.

“Details of the project remain scanty and the public might have been misled on the financing model of the road,” National Assembly Finance Committee chairman Kuria Kimani said.

“While we were told the project was financed through the PPP model, there is a general perception that it was not. This is what we want to be informed as a committee.”

In October last year, the government cancelled the decision by the Kenyatta-led government to control Telkom Kenya with a back deal of Sh6 billion.

Medical cover

In its meeting, the Cabinet rescinded the July 2022 decision which saw Helios, a London based private equity fund, paid Sh6.091 billion following its exit from the struggling telecommunication company.

“In addressing governance challenges posed by the nationalisation of Telkom Kenya Ltd in the run-up to last year’s General Election, the Cabinet rescinded the decision that the Government of Kenya shall purchase from Jamhuri/Helios 60 per cent of the ordinary shares of Telkom Kenya,” read the Cabinet despatch.

The current administration also brought to a screeching halt the Sh9 billion EduAfya scheme that was initiated by Mr Kenyatta in 2018.

The Ministry of Education and the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) signed a contract in 2018 which allowed students to begin getting medical services in the same year.

The programme offered comprehensive medical insurance cover to students in public secondary schools registered under the National Education Management System.

In order for one to access medical services, the student was to present an NHIF membership card or a letter written and duly endorsed by the school principal or designate if the learner had not been given a membership card.