The Kenya Red Cross Society was on post after it launched an appeal to help famine victims.
Now the National Assembly Majority leader Aden Duale has accuse the society of fleecing Kenyans by appealing for drought relief.
Majority leader Aden Duale said the Red Cross should stop appealing for drought funds before it accounts for massive amounts collected in past droughts, floods and other and emergencies.
Duale wants the government to investigate the Sh1 billion given to the Kenya Red Cross. He accused some top officials heading aid agencies of enriching themselves when people are suffering.
He was speaking in Garissa Town.
Duale said no Kenyan will contribute towards the Red Cross kitty before a full accounting is made.
“My friend Abbas Gullet [secretary general] should abandon the M-Pesa pay bill for Kenyans to raise funds,” Duale said. “In the last drought we raised billions of shillings and to date, he has not explained how the cash was used.”
“Whenever he [Gullet] sees that there is a drought, he calls a press conference in one of the big hotels in the city to give out an M-Pesa bill.”
Duale said that last year the government gave the Kenya Red Cross Society Sh1 billion to build houses for flood victims in Budalang’i, Tana River, Garissa and Meru.
However, to date, not one single house has been built, he said.
On Thursday last week, Kenya Red Cross appealed for Sh824,554,720 to provide humanitarian assistance to 1.1 million people it says are suffering by the persisting drought.
During a press conference, Gullet said that Turkana, Wajir and Baringo counties are the most affected.
Although media reports indicate people have died of starvation, the government has denied the claims. It says they died of other ailments and admits there are food distribution problems
It pledged to do everything in its power to ensure no one dies of lack of food.
The situation has deteriorated owing to the delayed rains. Agencies have been appealing for donations.
Duale also blamed the county governments of Turkana, Baringo, Wajir, Tana River, Garissa, Isiolo, Marsabit for doing little to mitigate the effects of the drought.
He said counties such as Turkana receive a lot of money from the national government. It received Sh11 billion for this financial year.
“Much as we want to blame the national government for allegedly doing little to mitigate the drought, the county governments will also take the blame for not allocating enough funds for the crisis,” he said.by stephen astariko