Kenya MPs in new plot to block anti-graft nominees

MPs opposed to the appointment of former tax collector Mumo Matemu to head the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission are plotting to deliver a major bombshell when the debate resumes on Tuesday.

MPs who spoke to the Sunday Nation said they were preparing a detailed report on Mr Matemu’s alleged involvement in questionable dealings during his tenure as a Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) commissioner and a company secretary at the Agricultural Finance Corporation (AFC) to demonstrate his unsuitability to head the anti-graft commission. (READ: Matemu linked to Sh2.4bn scam)

Besides exposing Mr Matemu’s alleged involvement in questionable dealings, the MPs also plan to bar Kibwezi MP Philip Kaloki from acting as Temporary Speaker during Tuesday’s debate.

Kilgoris MP Gideon Konchella is lined up to unleash the dossier containing Mr Matemu’s alleged questionable dealings at the AFC while Gem MP Jakoyo Midiwo will spearhead the campaign to stop Prof Kaloki from presiding over the debate on the parliamentary committee on Justice and Legal Affairs rejecting the nomination of Mr Matemu, Prof Jane Onsongo and Ms Irene Keino for the new anti-graft body.

“Honourable Konchella had a lot of dossier on this man which he intended to table in Parliament before we adjourned. We will pick up from where we left when we resume on Tuesday, it will be fireworks,” said an MP who declined to be named because standing orders do not allow members to take debate outside Parliament.

Nominated MP George Nyamweya, who once headed the AFC, accused Mr Matemu and former managing director Gideon Toroitich of running down the institution.

“They treated it as a cash cow, dishing out unsecured loans which were never repaid. One did not have to be a farmer to get a loan. When I went to AFC, it was an institution which had been run down and we faced a daunting task of reviving it which we did,” he stated.

The MPs boasted that they had mobilised enough members to push through the committee’s report rejecting the three nominations.

Mr Midiwo is said to be preparing a petition to Speaker Kenneth Marende to block Prof Kaloki from presiding over Tuesday’s debate on grounds that he is partisan.

On Thursday, Mr Midiwo accused Prof Kaloki of conducting the debate on instructions from MPs supporting Mr Matemu’s nomination to chair the anti-graft body.

Mr Midiwo’s protests were prompted by an attempt by Yatta MP Charles Kilonzo to pass a note to the Temporary Speaker.

“On a point of order, Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker Sir, I want to plead with you. I have just seen something unusual in this Parliament.

“Even as we debate this motion, I think it is wrong for honourable members sitting in this House to do what Hon Kilonzo has just done – to pass to you messages when people are already complaining that they are standing but they are not being given a chance to speak. I would wish to know the content of that message,” the Gem MP protested.

Insiders say the letter to the Speaker is to be presented on Monday. They revealed that unlike on Thursday when some key members of the committee were missing, the anti-Matemu group would ensure that everybody is present to defend the report.

The Sunday Nation was told that intense lobbying had preceded the Thursday debate with MPs supporting or opposed to Mr Matemu holding secret meetings to lay strategies of pushing through their respective agenda.

One such meeting was held at the Sarova Panafric, mainly comprising PNU MPs opposed to Mr Matemu.

The MPs in the meeting are said to have voiced their preference for Dr Sarah Kilemi, wife of Higher Education assistant minister Kilemi Mwiria, and vowed to reject Mr Matemu’s nomination.

They accused a senior government official of blocking Dr Kilemi’s nomination. During the debate on Thursday, Mr Matemu’s tenure at the KRA came under intense scrutiny from a section of the MPs who accused him of protecting some companies from paying taxes.  

Ikolomani MP Boni Khalwale and Mr Nyamweya accused Mr Matemu of deliberately failing to collect taxes from some firms such as Kingsway Motors.

“One of the greatest concerns which really gave us considerable agony was that it was being suggested that the proposed Chairman of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, whilst in charge of the legal services at the KRA, negotiated with a company which owed the KRA Sh2.4 billion and the arrangement was that, that company should pay Sh1.4 million per week to offset the Sh2.4 billion. Mr Matemu deliberately declined to collect the tax,” Mr Nyamweya said.

“In this document, Kingsway in writing dated 28th September, 2004, made an undertaking to Kenya Revenue Authority and told Matemu that we want you to come and collect from us on a weekly basis Sh1.5 million. The man we want to give the opportunity to fight corruption,” Dr Khalwale picked up the matter in his contribution.

“Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, upon receipt of this document, the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) went ahead and commissioned an agent to collect, on their behalf, this Sh1.5 million. This agent, when he failed to collect, locked up all the godowns belonging to Kingsway.

“Kingsway ran into a round table discussion and they re-opened them on the undertaking that he was going to be a gentleman so that he pays the money,” he went on. Mr Matemu, upon receiving that agreement, refused to collect that money, Dr Khalwale went on.