Daggers drawn as three MPs disown report on Mudavadi fate in cemetery saga

Three members of a parliamentary committee have criticised the deletion of a recommendation that Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi steps down in relation to a land scam from a report tabled in Parliament on Tuesday.

The report does not propose action against Mr Mudavadi, who is also the Minister for Local Government, contradicting an earlier one that had proposed that the minister takes full responsibility for the scandal.

City Hall is accused of fraudulently receiving Sh283 million for the purchase of cemetery land.

The original report has been pending before the House Business Committee for the last eight months.

The MPs, who are members of the Local Authorities committee including the Vice-chairman Mr David Ngugi (Kinangop), denounced the report after it was tabled, pointing out changes they claimed were deliberately made to water down the original report.

The Local Authorities and Funds Accounts and the Local Authorities committees investigated the scam separately and compiled reports with different recommendations, including those touching on Mr Mudavadi.

In its report, the Local Authorities and Funds Accounts committee, a new watchdog committee chaired by Wundanyi MP Thomas Mwadeghu, said there was no documentary evidence to establish his possible culpability “and leaves it to the investigatory agencies.”

“Though the PS mentioned that he briefed him, the minister denied this claim and the committee was unable to establish this assertion as there was no documentary evidence,” said the team.

On the other hand, the Local Authorities committee then chaired by Kisumu Town West MP Shakeel Shabir argued that Mudavdai could not feign ignorance of the matter and recommended that he steps aside to pave way for investigations.

“The committee observed that he failed to ensure proper procedures were followed and should take political responsibility,” the report states.

“The committee did not believe the minister’s assertion that his PS did not update him on the procurement of the cemetery land,” it noted. The report was tabled before Parliament on March 4 but the HBC did not allocate it time for debate.

Following the release of the two reports, House Speaker Kenneth Marende asked the two committees to meet and harmonise their findings and table a joint report.

Consequently, the two committees held joint sittings including a workshop where they agreed to harmonise the recommendations based on evidence gathered during the investigations.

Harmonised report

They also agreed that the report tabled in March be withdrawn and replaced with the harmonised one, which was tabled by the chairman of the Local Authorities Committee, Mr Mohammed Gabbow.

The latest report comprises joint suggestions, with the two separate reports and their findings attached.

It has, however, emerged that the controversy rotates around the removal from the Local Authorities report of specific recommendations asking Mr Mudavadi to step aside.

Instead, it says investigations should continue to determine the minister’s possible culpability in the saga. These are the same recommendations in the harmonised report now before the House.

“The committee noted that the minister was aware of the matter but was not adequately briefed,” the joint report concludes.
But Mr Ngugi, Mr Gideon Konchella (Kilgoris) and Mr Joshua Kutuny (Cherengany) who are members of the Local Authorities committee, claimed the recommendations were doctored.

Addressing a press conference soon after their chairman tabled the new harmonised report, Mr Kutuny took issue with the House Business Committee for delay in scheduling the report tabled in March for debate.

“Why has this cemetery report taken eight months and not been discussed? Our recommendations remain intact and we stand by it,” he said.

The only similarity in the two reports is the conclusion that the minister’s action was inexcusable and if he was not truly involved in the fraud, he should have taken action against his PS and all those involved in the defrauding the public.

The committees observed that, at the time of writing the report, there was evidence Mr Mudavadi had not even visited the site to ascertain its suitability or otherwise.
The three MPs have vowed to stand by the original report which proposes resignation of the deputy ODM leader.

Withdraw report

The MPs said Parliament can only consider both reports simultaneously, with their original recommendations intact.

“The government has already acted on the basis of the original report and some people have been taken to court, so it is unacceptable to imagine we can withdraw it,” said Mr Konchella.

“We shall not agree with anybody who wants to dilute the original report. We spent almost three months compiling evidence, findings and recommendations, so our original report remains as it was,” Mr Ngugi said.

The trio claimed their committee has been pulling in different sides, recalling the change of chairmanship from Mr Shakeel Shabir to Mr Gubow. It was during his time that the first report was tabled.

Mr Ngugi argued that the Standing Orders don’t allow the first report to be withdrawn.

“It is now a property of the House and can only be changed, discussed or amended on the floor of the House,” he stated.

However, Mr Gabbow dismissed the claims, saying the harmonisation was in line with the Standing Orders and Mr Ngugi was among members who signed the adoption of the minutes of Tuesday’s meeting.