DIDN'T KNOW

Deputy prime minister and minister for local government Musalia Mudavadi has come out with guns blazing, denying culpability in the cemetery land scandal and insisting he was kept in the dark over the whole transaction.

Mudavadi's reaction comes barely a day after former Permanent Secretary in the ministry Sammy Kirui accused the minister of lying about his involvement in the deal.

Mudavadi says he was never involved in the scandal and accused the PS of having vested interests in the matter.

And it seems there is no let-up in the vicious blame game surrounding the illegal purchase of the cemetery land in Mavoko by the Nairobi City Council which is said to have cost the council millions of shillings.

On Wednesday Kirui claimed that Mudavadi was privy to details regarding the purchase of the controversial piece of land, and challenged him to come out clean on the saga.

Kirui was among government and city council officers suspended over their alleged implication in the deal in which the city council is said to have grossly overpaid for a piece of land in Athi River for a cemetery expansion.

It also emerged that the piece of land could not be used for the purpose for which it was intended.

Answering questions from the local authorities and funds account committee on Thursday, Mudavadi claimed that he first heard of the scandal last year in June while answering a parliamentary question adding that none of the documents involved in the purchase were copied to him.

He said while he was aware of the need to purchase the cemetery land, the law bars him as a minister from interfering with the procurement process.

Earlier Nairobi mayor Godfrey Majiwa, disowned documents tabled before him by the committee and stated that the city council bylaws give him the authority to sign documents on behalf of the council.

Majiwa was categorical that he did not get a single penny from the fraudulent purchase instead blaming the chief officers in the council. He also denied dealing with a stranger in the buying process.

Mudavadi and Majiwa were in March quizzed over the matter but they protested their innocence and have since sued the Kenya Anti Corruption Commission for alleged infringement on their rights.