By Kwanta Douglas –
Kenya’s bullet factory failed to meet domestic demand due to a larger financial loss of Ksh694.3 million ($6.2 million) for the year ending June 2019, according to an audit report.
Kenya Ordnance Factories Corporation (KOFC) losses climbed from Ksh470.8 million ($4.2 million) in the year to June 2018, according to Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu.
Kenya’s military and police have been utilizing bullets made in an Eldoret facility since 1997, with the deficit imported.
According to the filings, KOFC made sales of Ksh590.9 million ($5.3 million) against a cost of Ksh1.3 billion ($11.3 million), resulting in a Ksh694.3 million ($6.2 million) trading loss.
“The management explained that heavy losses incurred were due to ineffective, old and worn-out machines whose performance stands at 40 percent, hence could not meet the domestic demand,” Ms Gathungu said in a report dated August 9, 2021, and tabled in Parliament.
KOFC is mandated to manufacture military hardware, machinery, and equipment. It produces ammunition for small arms for the country’s use and sells the surplus.
Ms Gathungu questioned the failure of KOFC to put into use machinery that has been lying idle from the time the factory was built 24 years ago.
She said machinery of unknown value was either installed, partially installed, or not installed at all. They comprise two anvil piecing machines, one prima cap manufacturing machine, five prima polishing machines, and a tracer bullet loader.
“The machinery has been lying idle from the time the factory was built,” Ms Gathungu said adding the situation was contrary to section 72(1) (a) of the Public Finance Management Act, 2012.