MPs meet over Mudavadi fate

By Martin Mutua

A parliamentary committee that tabled a report critical of Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi's role in the Sh283 million cemetery scandal meets today to decide whether to absolve him.

The Local Authorities Committee could choose this option or demand he takes "political responsibility" for the scandal that has already landed his former Permanent Secretary Mr Sammy Kirui and Mr Geophrey Majiwa, formerly Nairobi Mayor, in court — and cost them their jobs.

The Local Government Minister has his fingers crossed waiting to see whether the Committee would take the unusual step of recalling a report it handed over to Parliament just to remove his name, a move that is bound to raise eyebrows.

The committee, now headed by Wajir North MP Mohamed Gabow after Kisumu Town East MP Shakeel Shabir resigned, is expected to meet today and decide whether the report should be recalled for ‘amendments’. If the report comes up for discussion in its present form, Mudavadi could be left with no option but to walk in the footsteps of his Foreign Affairs counterpart Mr Moses Wetang’ula who was forced out by an indicting report by the Defence and Foreign Relations Committee.

The Local Authorities Committee report, which called on Mudavadi to step aside over the cemetery scandal, was handed over to the House Business Committee in March but was never slotted for debate on the floor of the House.

The report that was tabled in March, this year, implicates Mudavadi in the scam and among other recommendations calls on him to take "political responsibility" for the rip-off.

The Wajir North MP took over chairmanship of the committee after Shabir resigned following alleged political intrigues and attempts to remove the name of the minister from the report.

The report’s first edition recommends Mudavadi be held responsible for the scandal in which City Council of Nairobi reportedly paid Sh283 million for a rocky patch of land whose real value is said to be less than Sh20 million.

It later turned out the land was unsuitable for use as a graveyard for which it was being purchased given Langata Cemetery was full.

A new twist in Parliament’s approach to this matter emerged when another Parliamentary committee came up with different report that claimed the minister was not to blame for the scandal.

The Local Authorities and Funds Committee chaired by Wundanyi MP Thomas Mwadegu is said to have based its investigations into the scam on the report of the other committee while under Shabir.

Gabow told The Standard he called the meeting for today to let the committee decide whether it will withdraw the pending report from the House to allow for one ‘harmonised’ with that of Mwadegu’s team

Harmonised report

In the ‘harmonised’ Mwadegu Report the findings absolve Mudavadi from any responsibility, a move that has stirred interest and speculation in Parliament.

"It will be up to the members of the committee to decide whether they will withdraw their report or not to allow for the other one to be tabled. It is not for me decide," he added.

Gabow reported members of both committees met in Mombasa and ‘harmonised’ report and nobody raised objection then.

"Why is it that there is a change of heart now from whatever quarters yet none of the members raised any objection when we met in Mombasa and even here in Nairobi?" posed Gabow.

However, the Wajir North MP said he will place the matter before his committee this morning to decide on the issue.

"I am just working within the Standing Orders and I would not like to do anything outside them. That is why I have called this meeting for the members to decide on the way forward," he added.

Shabir told The Standard he did his job as chairman of the committee and tabled the report, which his team had been mandated by the House to come up with.

Shabir said the Mwadegu committee, which basically looks into the use of funds in local authorities, also got involved on the basis of misuse of funds. "They used our report, which is very comprehensive, as a basis to carry out their work," he explained.

Shabir said among the recommendations his committee made was that Mudavadi takes political responsibility for the saga.

Political responsibility

"There are two ministries which have executive authority, that is the Treasury and the Local Government, therefore, whatever goes on in those ministries the ministers responsible must know because they must append their signatures to every document," he added.

Shabir said it was on that basis that his committee arrived at the recommendation that Mudavadi has to take political responsibility.

Mwadegu declined to comment, only choosing to say, "there is nothing in that matter but let me not say anything now."

Some members of the two committees claimed they had been ordered to ‘harmonise’ their reports by House Speaker Kenneth Marende.

Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission, which arrested Majiwa last week, is investigating whether officials working at the Ministry of Local Government and City Council of Nairobi followed due process in purchasing the 120 acres of land. The swathe of land is in Athi River, in the outskirts of Nairobi. It was claimed it was bought at an inflated price of Sh283 million, translating into Sh2.4 million an acre, when the owner had offered it at Sh400,000 per acre.

A report by the Controller and Auditor General also revealed NCC and ministry officials failed to adhere to the Public Procurement rules and that they even forged some tender documents in executing the deal.

Owing to the shady dealings, President Kibaki, in March, suspended 13 senior officers at the ministries of Finance and Local Government and NCC and called for intensive investigations.