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A row over bank account signatories has stalled a Sh700 million project intended to finance the building of water pans and market access roads in Homa Bay.
The World Bank-funded project has ground to a halt as county officials bicker over which bank to open the account in, and its designated signatories.
Outgoing project coordinator Erick Adel has warned that the county could lose out if the World Bank demands as per the project manual are not adhered to.
Homa Bay Governor Cyprian Awiti and then Agriculture secretary Willy Bett last year signed an inter-governmental participation agreement for the five-year National Agricultural and Rural Inclusive Growth Project (NARIGP).
The county assembly agriculture committee a fortnight ago summoned the Agriculture CEC Juma Aguko and Mr Adel to shed light on the status of the project.
Too long
Committee chairman Bob Obondo said the summonses were issued to the officials to “explain why they were taking too long to implement the project.”
“One of the major concerns was that an account had been opened at Ecobank branch in Kisumu in May 2018 yet the arrangement was to channel the money through the KCB, Homa Bay branch,” Mr Obondo said.
“We were concerned why the account had to be in Kisumu, miles away, and why signatories had been changed. We therefore ordered for the closure of the account and subsequent opening of one at KCB, Homa Bay.”
At the time of opening of the Ecobank account, the project capacity building officer, Elvis Kithine, was named a signatory while Mr Adel, the project coordinator, was left out.
Mr Kithine was just recently (on August 7) appointed to replace Mr Adel.
Also questioned was the eligibility of Ben Odhiambo, the livestock chief officer, who was named a signatory instead of Duncan Ojiem, who was the chief officer of agriculture.
The Agriculture CEC, Mr Aguko, however defended the change of signatories saying “it was meant for efficient delivery of services and ensuring proper project implementation.”
Five-year programme
The five-year programme sponsored by the Word Bank was set to benefit 24,000 farmers in 20 wards in six sub-counties.
The World Bank has already disbursed Sh50.6 million while the Homa Bay county government provided Sh5 million in the 2017/18 budget to kick-start the programme that is being implemented in 21 counties.
In the 2018/19 budget, the World Bank is meant to disburse another Sh140 million and the county government Sh6.5 million.
The Sh55.6 million start-up cash is meant for capacity building, formation of farmer groups and their registration as well as establishing the county project office.
The programme covers tilapia fish, tissue banana, groundnuts and dairy projects among others.
Mr Aguko, in an interview, said he had agreed to close the account at Ecobank and subsequently opened one at KCB in Homa Bay.
No comment
World Bank’s Africa communications and partnerships communications officer, Vera Rosauer, declined to comment on the status of the project.
“As you are aware, the World Bank provides financing to the government of Kenya through the National Treasury.
"The National Treasury then disburses the funds to the implementing agency, in this case, the Ministry of Agriculture,” Ms Rosauer said.
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