Raila: It’s a smear campaign

Prime Minister Raila Odinga on Friday dismissed as vendetta the parliamentary report linking his family to a multi-million-shilling maize scandal that hit the country earlier in the year.
He said it was a smear campaign aimed at settling scores. Through spokesman Dennis Onyango, the PM said some of the conclusions by the Departmental Committee on Agriculture “stand out in their display of ignorance” and that the report lacked integrity.

The statement insisted that the Prime Minister and his family had played no role in the resultant food shortage and had no links with the firms that imported maize.

Three firms

The parliamentary team chaired by Naivasha MP John Mututho said Mr Odinga’s family and a personal assistant should be investigated to establish their role in the importation of maize by three firms.

The report, tabled in Parliament on Thursday, also recommends the sacking of the Agriculture and Special Programmes permanent secretaries and the National Cereals and Produce Board managing director.

But Mr Mututho defended his team’s report, saying the issue should not be politicised. Speaking by telephone, he dismissed the contention that Mr Odinga was being targeted politically, saying the committee that prepared the report had many ODM legislators.

Mr Odinga said the three firms in question — Euroworld Commodities Ltd, Senwes Ltd and Afrig Trading (Pty) Ltd — existed long before he became Prime Minister or chairman of the ad hoc Cabinet sub-committee on food. The PM said the three were publicly quoted firms and it was easy to establish whether they were foreign or Kenyan owned.

Mr Odinga said the ad hoc sub-committee did not procure food and its mandate was to coordinate the execution of the Cabinet’s decision to import emergency food. Mr Odinga claimed that the allegations in the report were part of an on-going smear campaign.

“These allegations around maize are being pushed by corruption cartels that see the Prime Minister as stopping them from dipping their way into the granary,” the statement said.

Emergency maize

The statement claimed that a member of the committee investigating the food crisis unsuccessfully tendered to supply emergency maize sourced from Cameroon and Ivory Coast.

However, Mr Mututho said the MP in question had declared his interest under standing order 75.

Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s wife, Ida, defended her family, saying MPs had cheapened the dignity of Parliament by settling personal differences by mudslinging others.

“No member of my family or relative is involved in the maize trading or importation business. A culture has emerged in this country where people believe that they have to steal in order to become rich. My family is forthright because I have instilled in them good values and that is why none of them is involved in any kind of malpractices,” she said.

Mrs Odinga challenged the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture to produce any incriminating evidence linking her family to the maize scandal.
She was speaking at Othoro Mixed Secondary School in Rachuonyo District where she was the guest of honour during a meeting to raise funds to built a library.

Elsewhere, ODM legislators accused their rivals in PNU of using the report to fight Mr Odinga after the National Assembly Speaker’s ruling on the controversy over the Leader of Government Business.

Kisumu Town West MP Olago Aluoch, his counterpart Shakeel Shabir (Kisumu Town East), and Kisumu mayor Sam Okello were speaking during the Labour Day celebrations at Moi Stadium in Kisumu.

Additional reporting by Otieno Owida