By SAMUEL SIRINGI ssiringi@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Saturday, November 19 2011 at 22:30
Posted Saturday, November 19 2011 at 22:30
President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga have until Thursday to nominate the next anti-corruption director or risk putting the fight against graft in limbo.
They have yet to pick a candidate from a list of three names given to them more than a week ago.
The person appointed will head the new Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission as chairperson.
The team of three commissioners must be in office by December 5 when the term of the current advisory board expires, according to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission Act.
The disbandment
A selection panel forwarded the names of advisory board chairman Okong’o O’Mogeni, Kenya Revenue Authority Commissioner Mumo Matemu and economist Sarah Kilemi to President Kibaki and Mr Odinga.
They are expected to choose one of the them and forward the name to Parliament for approval. Following interviews, Mr O’Mogeni came in tops with a score of 81.7 followed by Mr Matemu with 78.4 and Dr Kilemi with 78.1.
The panel, chaired by Mrs Rose Mambo, also forwarded the names of Prof Jane Onsongo, Mr Polycarp Ochillo, Mr Francis Shaw and Ms Irene Keino, in order of merit, to be considered for the two other positions as commissioner.
Following the disbandment of the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission, the new law allowed the Kenya Anti-Corruption Advisory Board to manage the transition for 90 days, which expires December 5.
Failure to have the commissioners in office by that date will put at risk evidence under the board’s protection.
Failure to have the commissioners in office by that date will put at risk evidence under the board’s protection.
The person President Kibaki and Mr Odinga choose will face the challenge of overseeing amendments to the ethc’s commission Act, which has many flaws, in addition to vetting all staff at the commission.
He or she will also have to initiate key policy and strategic decisions to boost the efforts of the new commission.
Notably, while most constitutional commissions have five or more commissioners, the ethics one will have only three.
The members will appoint a secretary to run the day-to-day business of the board.
The commission has also been denied powers to prosecute suspects of corruption.
Kacc had repeatedly complained that lack of power to prosecute was slowing down its operations.
Under the new law, the commission will make its proposals to the Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko who will then decide whether to accept or reject the submissions.
However, the Act still makes reference to the Attorney-General’s office, to which Kacc reported, instead of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
It also refers to the position of commission director that has since been abolished.
Wound up
Kacc was wound up following the enactment of the ethics commission Act in line with the Constitution at a time when it was conducting investigations into 12 major corruption cases.
The cases, which involved some Sh100 billion, are now at a standstill.
The agency could not transact certain operations like incurring expenditure, as only the director has authority to incur expenditure as the chief accounting officer.
Former director Patrick Lumumba, together with his four deputies, handed over to their immediate juniors.
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