RAILA NEVER CONSULTED KIBAKI

Prime Minister Raila Odinga on Monday came face-to-face with Agriculture minister William Ruto at a tense meeting convened to discuss, among others, the thorny issue of the maize scandal that has polarised the Government and further split ODM party.

The meeting, attended by 15 ODM ministers, was however sharply divided on whether ministers should be held accountable even in instances where junior officers had a hand in questionable deals.

And Raila confirmed that he had not consulted President Kibaki directly before announcing the ‘suspension’ of Ruto and his Education counterpart, Prof Sam Ongeri, though he had held "wide consultations" within Government.

It is understood that Raila shared the issue with the Secretary to the Cabinet and Head of Civil Service, Ambassador Francis Muthaura, before taking the action that was later reversed by the Head of State.

By virtue of telling Muthaura, by implication, the PM thought their discussion would reach President Kibaki.

At yesterday’s meeting at the PM’s Treasury office, the ODM wing of Government discussed the PricewaterhouseCoopers report on subsidised maize and the loss of over Sh100 million meant for the free primary education programme.

However, a statement from the Prime Minister’s Press Service sent out to newsrooms last evening noted that the meeting had reviewed the agenda for the year.

Why suspend me?

Though the meeting was closed to the media, sources at the meeting indicated that Ruto put up a defence that the PwC report had indeed not indicted him and wondered why the PM had ‘suspended’ him.

One of the ministers said it was improper to hold ministers accountable for actions of junior officers.

"Ministers cannot police everybody and if we are going to hold them accountable for actions that they may not even be aware of, there would be no Government," a minister is quoted to have said.

Whereas some ministers supported the PM’s action against Ruto and Ongeri, others disagreed with the approach and suggested that the party come up with other better ways of resolving issues.

The ministers said they needed to spend more time on the maize scandal because it "put more pressure on the Orange party".

The meeting, however, failed to come up with a conclusive way forward and resolved to meet again tomorrow, where they would also discuss the draft Constitution ahead of its tabling in Parliament.