File | NATION Members of Parliament are demanding an explanation as to why Mr Moses Wetang’ula (right) and Mr Thuita Mwangi were reappointed as Foreign Affairs minister and PS respectively despite Parliament having found them unfit to hold public office over multi-million-shilling scandals in Kenyan missions abroad.
By JOHN NGIRACHU jngirachu@ke.nationmedia.com and ALPHONCE SHIUNDU ashiundu@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Saturday, September 10 2011 at 22:00
Posted Saturday, September 10 2011 at 22:00
IN SUMMARY
- PM will issue statement on minister’s reappointment after MPs’ recess in October; by then, Members’ fury may have fizzled out
A national heroine’s funeral and an international conference on famine saved Foreign Affairs minister Moses Wetang’ula from the wrath of MPs angered by his return to the Cabinet.
By attending the two events on Wednesday and Thursday, Prime Minister Raila Odinga skipped two encounters with MPs who appeared ready to take him on over Mr Wetang’ula.
Shortly before the Prime Minister’s Question Time last Wednesday, several MPs held a meeting at the members’ lobby in Parliament.
The meeting was centred on Wajir West MP Adan Keynan, the vocal chairman of the departmental committee on Defence and Foreign Relations.
Soon after, word leaked out that they had suggested moving of a motion of censure against Mr Odinga and Mr Wetang’ula. MPs would be asked to censure the Prime Minister because he had offended Parliament by participating in the reappointment and Mr Wetang’ula.
Unfit for public office
Last October, Parliament adopted a report of the Keynan-led committee that had found Mr Wetang’ula unfit to run public office.
This was because of his suspected role in the irregular sale and purchase of several of Kenya’s embassies abroad, with that in Tokyo being the highlight of the damning report.
Committee members were emboldened by a special report of the Kenya National Audit Office on the Tokyo scandal, which stated that money was indeed lost.
Although the Sh182 million quoted in the report is much lower than the Sh1.3 billion in the committee’s report, it also raised concerns that two sale agreements were made on the same property.
Like the report of the Defence committee, the Kenya National Audit Office recommended action against top officials at Foreign Affairs over the scam.
Notably the report, dated January this year, has been lying at the audit office and was leaked to the press the same day. The law dictates that the Finance minister table in Parliament such audit reports seven days after their presentation to him.
Asked about this last Thursday, Finance minister Uhuru Kenyatta told Parliament he was not aware of the report’s existence but would table it at the earliest opportunity after checking with the national audit office.
Mr Odinga had been handed the role of explaining Mr Wetang’ula’s reappointment by the Deputy Leader of Government Business Amos Kimunya, who said the PM would be best placed to do that given he is one-half of the appointing authority.
But the Prime Minister did not show up for the much-awaited Question Time. In the evening, it emerged he had attended the requiem service for Wambui Otieno-Mbugua at PCEA St Andrew’s Church in Nairobi.
But he had not escaped yet as Speaker Kenneth Marende ruled that the PM would have to issue the statement the following day.
The PM had explained that he was torn between attending the conference and being in Parliament, and had elected to go to Gigiri, and Mr Marende had advised that he could issue the statement next Tuesday.On Thursday, as the MPs prepared for the recess — sittings resume on October 11 — Mr Marende explained that he had met Mr Odinga earlier in the day.
Parliament’s next Tuesday meeting is a month away, in October, meaning Mr Wetang’ula could go free the same way Prof Sam Ongeri went as the noise over the theft of education funds reached its peak. MPs were going to take Prof Ongeri to task before they went on their last break, and the pressure fizzled out during the recess.
G7 Alliance
Mr Wetang’ula’s return to the Cabinet is seen as key to Mr Odinga’s strategy to keep the G7 Alliance, in which Saboti MP Eugene Wamalwa is a key figure, quite busy. Political observers also see those fighting Mr Wetang’ula’s return to Cabinet as part of a bigger scheme to ensure he does not gain mileage through the post.
Dr Joshua Kivuva, a political science lecturer at the University of Nairobi, said it would be difficult for Mr Odinga to explain Mr Wetang’ula’s return for the simple reason that it was part of a “settlement”. Dr Kivuva said the settlement resulted in the appointment of Agnes Odhiambo and Edward Ouko as Controller of Budget and Auditor-General respectively.
On his part, President Kibaki got to return Mr Wetang’ula and Permanent Secretary Thuita Mwangi to the Harambee Avenue address and to install Prof Githu Muigai as the Attorney-General. Politically, it also helps Mr Odinga to have Mr Wetang’ula — a fellow candidate for the presidency next year — in a position that increases his visibility.
Dr Kivuva said Mr Wetang’ula’s bid for the presidency disorganises the G7 alliance, where Mr Wamalwa is also seeking nomination at the primaries. “Mr Odinga wants to keep his enemies fighting each other,” said Dr Kivuva.
Last Thursday, Gichugu MP Martha Karua noted that the imminent censure of Mr Wetang’ula could be a ploy to hound him into political oblivion. She told her colleagues that if they were to prove their resolve to rid the Executive of corruption, then all scandals involving ministers have to be addressed.
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