Thursday, April 25, 2024 - Members of Parliament lost patience with President William Ruto’s Principal Secretary and chased him away over his incompetence.
Cooperatives Principal Secretary
Patrick Kilemi was turned away over his inadequate responses to the queries
posed.
The PS had been invited before
the Committee on Trade, Industry, and Cooperatives to address concerns raised
over the delayed payment to dairy and coffee farmers by several cooperatives.
PS Kilemi acknowledged the
delays of payment to dairy farmers and pointed out that the Ministry is working
towards ensuring that they get payments by the 5th of every month beginning
July 2024.
Regarding the coffee farmers, he
noted that the Ministry had established a direct settlement system to curb the
issue of delays.
The system was introduced by
banks last year as a means of streamlining payment for coffee farmers.
However, the explanation did not
sit well with the legislators who emphasized that the delay did not only affect
the Mt Kenya region but across the country.
They demanded a comprehensive
and detailed explanation of the strategies to be implemented by the Ministry in
solving the issue.
Having been unable to respond to
the queries, the PS requested more time to provide detailed responses, which
irked the lawmakers.
"You were not adequately
prepared for this session. We cannot proceed with this meeting," stated
the Committee's Vice Chairperson Marianne Kitany.
Thereafter, Kitany directed the
PS to inform the Cooperatives Cabinet Secretary Simon Chelugui that he must
appear in the subsequent session to provide a detailed analysis and plan for
the payment delays.
The Kenyan DAILY POST
0 Comments