This archive report was first published on 23 August 2020.
On August 23, 2020, the Commodities Fund was in court to address concerns over the disbursement of a Sh180 million revolving fund meant for miraa farmers.
The Fund's Managing Trustee, Nancy Cheruyoit, testified that the money had been transferred to its accounts at the end of the 2019/20 financial year.
Cheruyoit assured the court that none of the Fund's officers had been threatened or ordered to transfer the funds to a private entity, and that the law and public consultation would guide the disbursement.
The Fund was responding to a lawsuit filed by three officials of the Nyambene Miraa Traders Association (Nyamita), who claimed that Ministry of Co-operatives officers were using public funds to help Mwenge Sacco recruit members in breach of public officers' ethics and code of conduct.
The three officials, Kimathi Munjuri, Jacob Miriti, and Naftali Kathurima, through their lawyer Lucas Kobia, claimed that public funds meant for a well-structured scheme may be lost if put in an unknown private entity picked without public participation.
Justice Francis Gikonyo has ordered that the matter be mentioned on November 5 to confirm compliance with a consent signed between the parties in 2017.
