SUMMONED FOR POOR PERFORMANCE

The Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture has summoned two ministers over the poor ranking of their dockets in the recently released government survey on performance contracting.

Committee chairman John Mututho (Naivasha, Kanu) said Dr Mohammed Kuti, the minister for Livestock Development and his Fisheries counterpart Paul Otuoma will appear before his team within a fortnight to explain why they were sleeping on the job.

Addressing journalists on Thursday after a committee meeting at Nairobi’s Continental House, Mr Mututho said the two ministers were duty-bound to ensure that their services were excellent in the eyes of the public.

The House rules, he said, mandates the committee to assess the performance of ministries in relation to set objectives (Standing Order 198(3)(d)).

“We are not overstepping our mandate; it is here and it is written in English. They have to explain this dismal performance,” he said.

The said Standing Order notes that the role of a departmental committee is “to study, assess and analyse the relative success of the ministries and departments as measured by the results obtained as compared with their stated objective.”

Besides, the committee is also granted powers to “investigate and inquire into all matters relating to assigned ministries and departments as they may deem necessary”.

“We want to find out why they are not meeting their objectives yet these dockets affect hundreds of Kenyans,” said Mr Mututho.

The Ministry of Fisheries Development ranked 41 in the results released on Monday while that of Livestock Development was last at number 43.

However, even with their relatively dismal performance, the two Ministries were still ranked under “good” in the performance report.

Dr Kuti’s Ministry has two parastatals under it, but while one, Kenya Dairy Board, emerged second under regulatory agencies and was 20 overall among the State Corporations, the Kenya Meat Commission performed dismally as it emerged at number 95.

For Mr Otuoma, the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute is his worry as he gears for the grilling session, given that the parastatals ranked at number 84 overall. At total of 139 parastatals were ranked.

Although Parliament is on recess until June 8, committee meetings continue as the House steps up the pressure on the Executive.