House to debate on Kacc conduct over cemetery saga

The Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission will once again come under Parliament's scrutiny next week following a request for a ministerial statement from the ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs to explain why the anti-graft body leaked partial findings into the cemetery saga to the media.

Mr Fred Outa (Nyando, ODM) also sought a clarification from the Justice Minister Mutula Kilonzo on whether Kacc broke the law in its handling of the inquest into the Sh283 million cemetery saga. The Justice Ministry is the parent ministry for the anti-graft body.

Instead of addressing the report to the Attorney General Amos Wako as prescribed in law, Parliament heard that Kacc decided to send the report to the Head of Public Service Francis Muthaura and Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

“(Based on that breach in procedure) can the Kacc be trusted to operate without bias?” posed the Nyando ODM MP.

The MPs could end up discussing the vacuum in the position of a substantive Kacc director and the competence of the current acting director John Mutonyi.

The interesting bit is that it is Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi who undertook to inform the Justice Minister of the statement pending in the House.

Mr Mudavadi is one of those who is on the firing line over the cemetery land saga with his name popping up in the Kacc report, although Kacc says it has “credible but uncorroborated” evidence against the deputy Prime Minister.

Mr Mudavadi has already termed the allegations against him as politically motivated and vowed to sue the anti-graft body for witchhunt and for maligning his name.

The cemetery land saga is turning into a political duel between the two main coalition partners –ODM and PNU—especially after ODM MPS engineered a move that saw the much-anticipated retreat by MPs to Naivasha cancelled.

ODM has read foul-play in the Sh283 million saga that saw the permanent secretary in the ministry of Local Government, Mr Sammy Kirui, suspended alongside other top officials.

It has also read it as a “calculated” move to tarnish the name of one of (its) ODM’s deputy party leaders ahead of the 2012 elections.

Next week will see the hot debate rekindled, especially bearing in mind that there is a parliamentary report that calls for the resignation of Mr Mudavadi over the same scandal.

This will be the first time since Parliament’s censure of former Kacc boss Aaron Ringera, that Kacc will come to close scrutiny over its effectiveness and the fairness in its activities.