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.
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