The Public Investments Committee on Social Services, Administration, and Agriculture (PICSSAA) is set to recommend to the House that comprehensive forensic audit of the Agricultural Finance Corporation (AFC) be carried out. 

The decision follows a rigorous review of the Auditor General’s reports, which revealed massive breaches of fiduciary duty and systemic malpractices spanning over 14 years.

The Committee reached the resolution during a session chaired by Vice-Chairperson Hon. Caleb Amisi (Saboti). Lawmakers expressed shock at the scale of irregularities, particularly regarding loan approvals and disbursements. 

The Members questioned the Corporation’s management, led by Director General Mr. George Kubai, before determining that a deep dive into the institution’s systemic failures was necessary.

“Director General, this Committee has cited a lot of malpractice in the Corporation’s operations. Every book of account with us here points out to massive malpractice around the approval of loans and disbursements. What is happening in the organization?” Hon. Amisi posed.

Underscoring the AFC’s vital role in empowering farmers and enhancing national food security through accessible financing, Hon. Amisi maintained that the Committee must address the root cause of the Corporation's instability.

“This is a very important organization to this country. We are going to recommend that a forensic audit be carried out on the Corporation to determine where the problem is. We require a full enquiry into these matters so we don’t have the same issues recurring year in, year out,” he stated.

In response to queries flagged by the Office of the Auditor General (OAG), Mr. Kubai acknowledged past instances where loans were issued based on falsified documents or overvalued collateral. However, he assured lawmakers that the Corporation has since implemented systems to halt the financial hemorrhage.

“Hon. Members, majority of the issues we’re addressing here are historical issues. We have since embarked on a journey of review of our processes on the way we do business as an institution since I assumed leadership in 2021,” he explained.

Mr. Kubai further noted that following concerns from the Board of Directors, the Corporation underwent a forensic audit a few years ago—a fact confirmed by officers from the OAG.

Despite this, Hon. Martin Owino (Ndhiwa) challenged the management on the principle of institutional continuity, noting that the current leadership bears the responsibility of rectifying inherited failures.

“The doctrine of perpetuity demands that even if you inherit a task from an institution dogged with such high level of malpractice, you have an obligation to clean up the mess,” he held.

Other legislators echoed these sentiments, insisting that a fresh forensic audit is the only way to save the AFC from collapse. Hon. Bishop Jackson Kosgey faulted the management for a lack of due diligence in loan processing.

“The management of this Corporation does not seem to be in charge of its operations. How for instance did you issue loans without due diligence on the titles provided as collateral?” he asked.

“By now, you should have mutated into a farmers’ bank probably only receiving a little support from the Exchequer,” he observed.

Hon. Wambugu Wainaina (Othaya) further pointed out that the flagged malpractices likely involved collusion with corrupt land officials, demanding that investigations be extended to those offices.

“Hon. Chair, a keen perusal of this report shows that the malpractices seem to have been carried out with the collaboration of lands officers. We want to know if any investigations have been launched on these errant officers,” he stated.

Weighing into the issues raised in the meeting, Turkana North lawmaker Hon. Ekwom Nabuin expressed concern that the corporation’s land has not been revalued since 2019 contrary to the law, which requires it to be revalued every five years. He also sought to know the safety of some parcels of land belonging to the Corporation but which have no title deeds. 

“The law requires that you revalue your land every five years. The last time you carried out valuation was in 2019. When do you plan to do this? Secondly, how  safe are the 16 parcels of land that have no titles? he asked. 

This is even as it emerged that the Corporation had not paid land rates for a period of 16 years, an anomaly they attributed to the delayed acquisition of title deeds for a section of their parcels of land across the country. 

In a separate but related matter, the Committee resolved to invite the Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture and the AFC Board to explain the irregular appointment of the Board Chairman.

The Committee heard that the Chairman was appointed in 2022 for a three-year term in contravention of Section 6 (1)(a) of the State Corporations Act, served the full term without the anomaly being corrected, and was subsequently reappointed in 2025.

Expressing concern that all decisions made under the Chairman's tenure could be legally challenged, Hon. Amisi directed the Cabinet Secretary and the Board Chairman to appear before the Committee to address the administrative lapse.