By EDWIN MUTAI
In Summary
- MPs question Secretary to the Cabinet nominee over corruption allegations.
MPs on Monday grilled outgoing head of civil
service and nominee of secretary to the Cabinet Francis Kimemia over
corruption in the public service.
MPs, who attended a closed-door meeting but
refused to be named for discussing matters before a closed House
committee session, informed the Business Daily that the EACC
questioned Mr Kimemia over the multi-billion-shilling Tokyo embassy
scandal and the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) tender for the
construction of new JKIA terminal.
The Administration and National Security
committee, chaired by Tiaty MP Asman Kamama, earlier interrogated the
Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission (EACC) chief executive officer
Halakhe Waqo on a dossier it presented to the committee, opposing the
nomination of Mr Kimemia as the first holder of the office of the
secretary to the Cabinet.
The committee met the two officers separately
before retreating to compile its report on Mr Kimemia, which will be
tabled for approval or rejection by the House Tuesday afternoon.
It was not clear if he was quizzed on alleged personal involvement or as head of public service.
Mr Kimemia appeared before the team on Friday for vetting. He was recalled on Tuesday to address the issues raised by EACC.
“We have listened to both the EACC and Mr Kimemia
and each have produced documents, which we are going to peruse before we
make our final recommendation to the House. The EACC said its
investigations were ongoing,” said the MP.
EACC wrote to Parliament last week asking MPs not
to approve the outgoing head of public service’s nomination as secretary
to President Uhuru Kenyatta Cabinet. The anti-graft body claims that Mr
Kimemia had abused office and been involved in corruption.
On Friday, the MPs questioned Mr Kimemia’s
integrity, alleged involvement in various corruption matters,
allegations of political bias, favouritism and nepotism.
The committee put Mr Kimemia to his defence over
his role in the 2013 presidential elections campaigns in which he was
accused of favouring the Jubilee coalition, accusations he denied.
The EACC is investigating the purchase of Kenyan
Embassy in Japan which cost the government an excess of Sh1.1 billion.
The scandal, which shot into public limelight in 2009, incriminated
Foreign Affairs permanent secretary Thuita Mwangi who has since been
charged in court.
Ambassador Anthony Mwaniki Muchiri and Allan
Mburu, former Kenyan embassy charge d’affairs, were also charged with
abuse of office and accused of buying property through falsified
documents from an individual valued at Sh1.1 billion, instead of buying
from the Japanese government, which had offered a cheaper alternative.
EACC says investigations established that
following the offer by the Japanese government, the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs sent a team to undertake valuation and the officers returned a
valuation of Sh887 million.
However, during the visit by the officers the
second interested party, Allan Mburu prevailed upon the team to inspect
the property housing the chancery and ambassador’s residence.
In the construction of the $653 million (Sh56
billion) Jomo Kenyatta International Airport greenfield project, the
anti-graft agency is investigating the cancellation of the tender for the construction of a new airport terminal by former Transport minister Amos Kimunya.
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