The board was forced to put a freeze on the distribution of the fertiliser after questions were raised on an imported batch now detained at the Port of Mombasa.
Speaking after meeting the Agriculture Committee of the National Assembly in Nairobi, NCPB boss Newton Terer said Kebs had declared 372 bags out of a consignment of 42,272 bad.
The rest — 41,900 bags — was found to be fit for use.
Mr Terer had accompanied acting Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Adan Mohammed to a meeting with the committee, which has been investigating the fertiliser contract worth Sh6 billion.
“Kebs, on the suspicion of this moisture content being high, basically put a freeze on these (88,000) bags,” Mr Mohammed told the Nation.
He said the board would now pursue insurance for the condemned fertiliser so that it can get refunds.
Moisture seeped into the 372 bags as the fertiliser was being shipped to Kenya and the insurance was being handled by the board.
INSURANCE
Mr Mohammed said the ministry would now consider whether to have the NCPB pay for the insurance and the importer to meet the cost and shipping charges.
“It all depends on the cost of insurance and so we’ll reflect on that and see. I think based on our experience of getting paid on this, we’ll have to consider where we actually want the insurance to be and who will run with that,” he said.
The committee started investigating the matter after it was discovered that some of the fertiliser was bad.
The committee told the ministry to go ahead with the distribution of the fertiliser to farmers and said it had not at any point asked for it to be stopped.
“You are at liberty to continue with the procurement contract. Don’t blame the committee when you are unable to execute this contract,” said Mr Kareke Mbiuki, the committee’s vice-chairman.
“Don’t go and tell the farmers that we have stopped you. The committee has not placed any embargo on it, so don’t blame us for your failures.”
Source: Bloom News, KTN, Daily Nation
