Kenya MPs split over City Hall scam

The political fallout over the Sh283 million cemetery land scandal has reached Parliament.

This came to the fore with the turf war between the Local Authorities Committee and the Local Authorities and Funds Account Committee.

Speaking to the Saturday Nation at Parliament Buildings, Mr Hussein Gabbow, the new chairman of the Local Authorities Committee, said his team will meet on Monday to decide whether to withdraw their report from Parliament or let it proceed to full debate.

Mr Gabbow, who took over from Mr Shakeel Shabbir who had tabled the report, said its fate lay with the members.

The report is critical of Local Government Minister Musalia Mudavadi, demanding he takes political responsibility for the scandal and resigns.

The Local Authorities and Funds Account Committee, chaired by Wundanyi MP Thomas Mwadeghu, carried out a similar investigation after the report had been tabled in the House.

Mr Gabbow said the Speaker’s office asked the committees to harmonise their findings but they failed to agree.

Mr Joseph Kutuny (Cherangany) said some MPs from Mr Gabbow’s team walked out after Mr Mwadeghu’s group appeared to water down their findings.

He said the investigations were water-tight and they were ready to defend the findings in Parliament. For now, he added, withdrawing of the report from the House was out of question.