Tough week ahead for embattled Ruto

• Agriculture minister William Ruto starts the week a troubled man as the House Business Committee ponders over a motion to force him out

Agriculture minister William Samoei Ruto is expected to face a trying week in his political career when a motion of censure filed by Ikolomani MP Bonny Khalwale comes before the House Business Committee (HBC) on Tuesday evening.

Sources close to the HBC confirmed that the motion by Dr Bonny Khalwale would be given priority.

Should the HBC sanction the motion, it could come up for debate as early as next Wednesday afternoon.

“Such motions are given priority by the House Business Committee,” a minister who is a member of the Committee told the Sunday Nation.

Dr Khalwale filed the censure motion last Wednesday, accusing the Agriculture minister of failing to give satisfactory answers over the disappearance of more than one million bags of maize from the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB).

The Ikolomani MP had earlier tabled documents in Parliament linking an insurance company associated with Mr Ruto to the purchase of gunny bags for the Board.

Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly Farah Maalim rejected some of the documents.

The maize scandal, which was first exposed by the Sunday Nation last December, has been the subject of debate by Parliament over the last four weeks.

Last month, the Government declared the famine situation facing the country a national disaster after it said at least 10 million Kenyans are facing hunger.

The HBC, which is chaired by the Vice-President who also doubles as the Leader of Government Business in Parliament, meets every Tuesday when Parliament adjourns its business for the day to set the agenda for the rest of the week.

Mr Ruto is also a member of the Committee which also includes deputy Prime ministers Musalia Mudavadi and Uhuru Kenyatta, ministers Amos Kimunya, Anyang Nyong’o, Kiraitu Murungi, Charity Ngilu and George Saitoti.

Others include Henry Kosgey, Sally Kosgey, Najib Balala, Mutula Kilonzo and Moses Wetangula.

Also in the committee are assistant minister James Magara and Adan Mahmoud together with the two whips George Thuo and Jakoyo Midiwo. Wajir west MP Aden Keynan is also a member of the Committee.

Dr Khalwale, who gave notice of his motion, told the Sunday Nation that he was waiting for the nod from the HBC on the fate of the motion.

He however said it enjoyed overwhelming support among MP. While Mr Ruto will be hoping that the motion does not end up on the floor of Parliament, a similar motion against Mr Kimunya filed by the same Dr Khalwale was a subject of debate by the House last year despite the Trade minister being a member of HBC.

Losing ground

Signs that the Agriculture minister was losing ground were evident last Monday when Prime Minister Raila Odinga called for an international forensic audit of the NCPB activities.

Later the same evening, ODM ministers and assistant ministers met in Mr Odinga’s office at Treasury to discuss the scam.

The ODM meeting set up yet another investigation team whose members include Mr Ruto himself, ministers Mr Orengo, Mr Paul Otuoma and Prof Nyongo.

Other members of the ODM committee include Mr Magara, Mr Adan Duale and Mr Godana Dhadho.

On Saturday, Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission spokesman Nicholas Simani said the organization had written 17 letters to MPs who had written leaders to NCPB seeking favours to appear at Integrity House.

“So far, 10 MPs have appeared before our investigators and given us useful information,” Mr Simani said.

He said the Commission was waiting for the remaining seven MPs who were summoned to assist in the investigations.

In the HBC, Mr Ruto is expected to face some of his colleagues who have already called for his resignation to allow for a thorough investigation of the scandal.

Among those who have asked the minister to step aside include Mr Mutula and Mrs Ngilu. Should ODM close ranks on the scandal, then Mr Ruto can count on the party’s members in HBC to give him full support.

The party and its allies account for 10 of the 19 members.

But once the HBC passes the motion for debate which is likely to be allocated on Wednesday afternoon, the minister may only count on the 21 MPs mainly from Rift Valley who last week vowed to oppose such a motion.

He is unlikely to draw any support from the larger Ukambani districts which have been ravaged by famine and its leaders have launched a fund to raise Sh1 billion to feed their constituents.

The minister may also be undermined by the escalating prices of maize flour which were lowered briefly last month only to shoot up to an all high of Sh120 for a two-kilogram packet.

Igembe South MP Mithika Linturi confirmed that he is waiting for the motion as his constituents are facing famine because of the scandal.

“This motion is of national interest and we hope HBC will give it priority,” the MP said.

Mr Linturi said all the promises the government had made to maize available to Kenyans had flopped, including the subsidised flour which was to retail at Sh130 for a five-kilogramme packet.

“This unga has not reached my constituency and my voters are starving,” the MP said when reached on phone.

Stabilise prices

The scandal was first exposed by the Sunday Nation last December when the government released 400,000 bags of maize to eight large-scale millers to stabilise maize flour prices which had risen to Sh120 from Sh70.

A week later, it was revealed that some businessmen and briefcase millers had been allocated a further 80,000 bags of maize at the expense of genuine millers and subsequently sold the maize to Southern Sudan. Among the briefcase millers were MPs.

Meanwhile, the Sunday Nation has established that the ministry gave one of the millers a contract to single-source for the bags to pack the subsidised flour at an estimated Sh1 million.

The bags are reported to have been acquired from a local company and distributed to all the millers who were milling the cheap flour for the government.

Mr Diamond Lalji, who is also the chairman of the Cereal Millers Association confirmed that his company had been given the contract to supply the bags.

He however said he could not remember how much money his company was paid to supply the bags to the Board, as he was not in Nairobi when contacted.