MPs vow to oppose anti-graft nominees

Four MPs have vowed to lobby their colleagues to reject the nominees to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) in Parliament.

Addressing a news conference at Parliament’s Media Centre Tuesday, assistant minister Kabando wa Kabando and George Nyamweya (nominated) promised the government a “thorough thrashing” should nominees Mumo Matemu, Jane Onsongo and Irene Keino come before the House. They were rejected by the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee.

“The networking and lobbying within Parliament is so solid, so firm, that any attempt by anyone to re-submit those nominees will be such a humiliation that they will never attempt seeking that office, or any other public office (requiring parliamentary approval) again,” said Mr Kabando said.

The MPs, who said they carried the sentiments of Abdikadir Mohammed (Mandera Central) and assistant minister Ndiritu Muriithi, accused Prime Minister Raila Odinga of “playing politics” with the EACC nominees and trying to cast the President as the one pushing their nomination.

They asked Mr Matemu, Ms Keino and Prof Onsongo to drop their bid to sit in the crucial constitutional body.

“No job is so desperate that you must cling to it even when all indications are there that you will not even serve the country,” added Mr Nyamweya, who sits in the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee.

The three were rejected in December last year but the committee report prescribing their rejection was thrown out of the House by a single-vote. In effect, this forced the government to take the names and have them tabled afresh. The committee had ruled that they lacked the “passion, drive and interest” necessary to fight runaway corruption in Kenya.

The Speaker ruled that the government had a duty to re-submit the names by way of a motion. Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka, as the Leader of Government Business, is expected to table the motion soon.

The lawmakers said that by writing a letter seeking to withdraw the names of the nominees, Mr Odinga was trying to cast aspersions on the intentions of the President.

“That’s not leadership. It is not how you handle coalition affairs. Everything must be done above board. You don’t come out trying to show your partner in bad light. That is politics and it must stop,” said Mr Nyamweya.

The MPs said the initial nomination had been sullied by ethnic and political manipulation, and thus, only a Cabinet decision or an Executive decision communicated to the House by the Leader of Government Business would be taken as a government decision.

The MPs read mischief in the PM’s letter saying it could be a way of prejudicing the process even before fresh names are tabled in the House. The PM and the President had agreed on the list that the House committee rejected.

MPs raised accusations against the suitability of the proposed chair Mr Matemu during a heated debate in the House.

Some MPs said that he failed to collect taxes during his tenure at the Kenya Revenue Authority.