Nairobi — Questions on circumstances under which a contract to print new currency notes by De La Rue was renewed has been shelved until two committees of Parliament conclude investigations into the matter.

Both the Public Accounts Committee and the Finance committee of Parliament are conducting an inquiry into the issue. However, on Wednesday a question on the same filed to the Finance minister by PAC chairman Dr Boni Khalwale came up before the House for deliberation, with the Ikolomani MP claiming the committee had reached a dead end in its inquiry.

Among others, he sought to know why the contract to De La Rue Currency and Security Print Limited was extended and whether other options were explored. He asked the Finance minister to tell the House whether the current contract was different from the earlier ones and expressed fears that the tender could have occasioned loss of public funds.

The House heard that the Central Bank of Kenya in August 2008, established that it needed to re-stock by procuring 450 million pieces of bank notes in various denominations to cover its demand to September 2010. This was after it evaluated its stock levels held vis-à-vis the country's regular currency requirements.

Finance assistant minister Dr Oburu Odinga explained that CBK entered into a contract with De La Rue on June 17, 2009 to print the 450 million notes. The assistant minister denied that there was no material difference between the current contract and previous ones. Responding to questions from the floor, he also denied that public funds had been lost by the current contract.

Dr Khalwale who said he was raising the matter in his capacity as the PAC chair claimed the Controller and Auditor General had refused to attend to his committee's request to carry out an audit to establish the authenticity of the contract.

According to the MP, the C&AG claimed he could not do so since he was barred by provisions in the CBK Act and his explanation was found unsatisfactory by the parliamentary team.