This archive report was first published on 27 September 2019.
On September 27, 2019, the Mwea National Irrigation scheme manager, Innocent Ariemba, confirmed that auditors from the National Irrigation Board (NIB) had been dispatched to carry out a two-week audit at the Mwea rice mill in Kirinyaga.
Ariemba explained that the audit was necessary to address concerns raised by traders who claimed to have been exploited by mill management. He stated that the operations at the mill would remain closed until the end of the audit to ensure a thorough examination of the mill's activities.
Accompanied by Mwea MP Wachira Kabinga, MCA Gurdison Muchina, and Mwea East sub-county commissioner, the NIB boss emphasized that traders would be allowed to collect their produce from the mill but would not be permitted to trade their rice inside the mill. Instead, they would be encouraged to process their produce in other factories in the town.
‘We will allow our traders who have the rice in the mill to come and collect it from tomorrow to go and process it in other factories in the town but those who want to keep it in our stores we will continue giving them services but no operations will be carried inside the mill,’ Ariemba affirmed.
Deputy Governor Peter Ndambiri and Mwea MP Kabinga Wachira echoed Ariemba's sentiments, calling for the audit to unravel the problems being reported in the mills by traders. They emphasized the need for transparency and accountability in the management of the national irrigation board-controlled rice mill, the largest in Central and East Africa.
