Big names in pyramid saga block probe report
Victims of Pyramid schemes feel in the forms they were issued with by the task force formed by the government to look into their claims and find ways on how there money can be recovered. PHOTO/ FILE
What you need to know:
- MPs and Cabinet ministers named as some of the masterminds
Politicians involved in pyramid schemes that have seen Kenyans lose Sh34 billion, have moved to court to block the release of a report implicating them.
Cooperative Development minister Joseph Nyaga told Parliament that a company said to be involved in the scheme had filed an injunction against the release of the report to the public.
The Kenya Business Community Cooperative Savings and Credit Society was named as having protested at the release of the report.
The group has sued the Attorney General, the minister and the team that compiled the report. The team was led by former minister Francis Nyenze and had implicated top politicians, including some MPs and ministers, as the masterminds of the pyramid scheme saga.
With the injunction hanging over the minister’s head, he sought guidance from the Speaker on how he should proceed, given that Ikolomani MP Bonny Khalwale had demanded the report in the House.
Dr Khalwale noted that the court order was just a mechanism to block the “highly connected individuals from being brought to book”.
“The order does not prohibit the minister from tabling the report in the House for members to consume,” the Ikolomani MP said.
Igembe South MP Mithika Linturi (Kanu) and Gichugu MP Martha Karua said the courts “will not gag Parliament”.
The two said that the principle of separation of powers among the three arms of government — Executive, Legislature and Judiciary — did not allow one to interfere with the work of the other two.
Ms Karua, a former Justice minister, asked the Speaker to release the report with a caveat that it remains for parliamentary use.
Juja MP George Thuo said that since the minister had released the report before the court order came, then the injunction was superfluous.
Temporary Speaker Ekwe Ethuro deferred the ruling to Wednesday, saying he needed to look at the court documents.
Reports by Njeri Rugene, Caroline Wafula and Alphonce Shiundu
