Military faulted over graft as House sessions resume

The military was on the spot on Tuesday over controversial procurement deals during Parliament’s first sitting in the new year.

Some MPs described the Department of Defence as “corrupt and rotten”.

Mr Pollyns Ochieng (Nyakach, ODM) led the onslaught on the military when he questioned “the premature retirement” of five senior officers from the Armed Forces.

The MP alluded to an attempt at cover-up in the dismissal of the officers.

“Could the minister also explain the correlation between the premature retirements and the procurement of the 42 AMR Parhard Light Armoured Cars, the Armoured Personnel Carriers single-sourced from a South African company … and F5 aircraft from the Government of Jordan, and clarify whether the government got value for money?” Mr Ochieng asked.

Defence minister Yusuf Hajj denied all the accusations levelled against the military and insisted that the procurement was totally above board.

He added that the five military men who had been retired had asked to leave and were allowed to do so.

“Joining the Kenyan military is not conscription and so if an officer seeks to retire we allow them to retire,” said Mr Hajj.

The House then asked the minister to shed light on the procurement controversy that played out in the public late last year.

The MPs even contemplated holding their sitting in camera to discuss the matter, but House Speaker Kenneth Marende said that doing so would be “disruptive” to Parliament’s agenda of expediting implementation of the new Constitution.

“I am not sure that we can sincerely discuss in open Parliament matters that regard procurement of military hardware. These matters can be handled in the committee,” said Mr Danson Mungatana (Garsen, Narc-Kenya).

Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka, the Leader of Government Business in Parliament, even asked the Speaker to consider stopping the House from even questioning the military deals because such matters ought to be “secret” in the interest of national security.

The way forward

Mr Marende promised to tell the House tomorrow the way forward in the scrutiny of the shady procurement.

Mr Ochieng then told the Speaker that there were “a lot of flaws” in the procurement that had led to the “purchase of F5 jets that cannot take off and the navy ships mv Nyayo and kn Umoja have been under repair and the repairs are taking forever”.

Mr Gideon Konchellah (Kilgoris, PNU), a former military man, added: “We have information that’ is so damaging concerning the rot in the military.”

Reported by Alphonce Shiundu and John Ngirachu