The sale of more than 500 livestock through public auction by the Interior ministry has flopped after only one bidder showed interest.
The ministry had put up the sale on behalf of the Kenya Prisons Service.
The State Department for Correctional Services told Parliament that a fresh tender will be issued next month to dispose the livestock reared in various prisons stations.
The sale of more than 500 livestock through public auction by the Interior ministry has flopped after only one bidder showed interest.
The ministry had put up the sale on behalf of the Kenya Prisons Service.
The State Department for Correctional Services told Parliament that a fresh tender will be issued next month to dispose the livestock reared in various prisons stations.
In May, the State department invited eligible bidders to bid for disposal of prison’s livestock which have reached slaughter age.
“We wanted to sale the animals because they have reached slaughter age. We did a tender for public auction and only got one bidder which was not responsive,” Ms Zainab Hussein, the Correctional Services Principal Secretary told MPs.
The prisons department rears livestock, among other farming projects, in an effort to make the service food self-sufficient.
The Kenya Prisons Service spends on average Sh400 million annually on beef supplies to feed about 55,000 inmates who consume 990 tonnes of meat per year.
The department rears livestock in its prisons at Kamiti and Ruiru, grows potatoes in Nyandarua, and maize in Kitale, Eldoret, Kakamega and Uasin Gishu counties.
Ms Hussein told the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that apart from disposing off animals that have reached slaughter age, the sale is also aimed replacing the current breed with better hybrids.
“We are trying to change the bread of the livestock that we have and that is why we want to sell them. This will pave the way for us to upgrade them,” Ms Hussein said.
Sirisia MP John Waluke had questioned the rationale behind the sale of prisons livestock and adding that the department should have fed the mature animals to prisoners.
“I understand that you were selling cows from prisons to the Kenya Defence Forces and the Kenya Meat Commission. What was the problem, are you cash-strapped?” Mr Waluke asked.
