Cabinet Secretary ordered to appear in court over graft case

Suspended Transport Cabinet Secretary Michael Kamau was on Tuesday ordered to appear in court tomorrow after prosecutors said they had failed to reach him to face corruption charges.

Police officers visited Mr Kamau’s home in Nairobi’s Westlands suburb but could not find him. The court was also told that his mobile phone appeared to have been switched off.

As prosecutors were making their application in the magistrate’s court, Mr Kamau’s lawyer was at the High Court, where he unsuccessfully sought to block his arrest and prosecution.

Mr Alloys Kemo, the assistant director of public prosecutions, informed an anti-corruption court that detectives from the Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission had visited Mr Kamau’s residence yesterday but could not find him.

Further attempts to reach him through his phone also proved futile as it had been switched off, compelling the prosecution to apply for court summons to compel him to appear in court to answer charges of abuse of office for irregularly awarding a Sh33 million tender for the redesigning of the Kamukuywa-Kaptama-Kapsokwony-Sirisia road in western Kenya.

“(The) EACC has not been able to locate him, and sent officers to his residence to arrest him but could not find him. We apply for court summons for him to present himself,” said Mr Kemo.

Senior principal magistrate Lawrence Mogambi allowed the request and summoned Mr Kamau to present himself before him tomorrow.

Should he fail to honour the summons, the prosecution would be free to apply for an arrest warrant, which will compel the police to track him down.

The CS was on Monday evening seen at Mater Hospital in Nairobi where he had gone to visit a sick relative.

He was yesterday seen at his residence in Westlands, but his phone remained switched off the whole day.

Mr Kamau suffered a further setback after his attempts to block his prosecution over the controversial tender for the redesigning of the Kamukuywa-Kaptama-Kapsokwony-Sirisia road failed.

Through his lawyer, Mr Paul Njuguna, Mr Kamua said that the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission lacked the necessary quorum to recommend his prosecution.

Justice Mumbi Ngugi said she had not been given satisfactory reasons to stop his charging and arrest. Though the judge certified the matter as urgent, she said she could not issue ex parte orders and directed that an inter partes hearing be held today.

Mr Kamau is likely to be the first CS to be charged after President Kenyatta’s List of Shame that also adversely mentioned ministers Charity Ngilu, Kazungu Kambi, Felix Kosgey and Davies Chirchir, among other officials, in relation to graft allegations.

Also summoned to face charges tomorrow are a former resident engineer at the Ministry of Roads, Mr Nicholas Ndung’u Ng’ang’a, and a Mr Kata Matemu Kithyo. The three were scheduled to be charged with six other members of the Transport Ministry’s tender committee who presented themselves before the court yesterday.

A former chief engineer at the ministry, Mr Mwangi Maingi, the tender committee’s chairman, Mr Philip Onyango Sika, and committee members Gilbert Mong’are Arasa, Raphael Weche Okubo, Sylus Wachira Gitau and Charles Oike Mubweka, all denied the charges of engaging in the project without planning.

They denied a further charge of failing to follow procurement rules in awarding the tender which had the effect of quantity variation for works exceeding 15 per cent of the original contract.

The magistrate released them on a cash bail of Sh600,000 each with the mention scheduled for June 16.

In the same court, two senior officials of the Kenya Veterinary Vaccines Production Institute were charged with abuse of office for renting out the institute’s 70-acre land in Limuru.

The institute’s managing director, Dr Geoffrey Kiprop Mutai, and the head of supply chain management, Mr George Koigi Ndung’u, were accused of using their offices to confer the land to Mr Justus Kigen without undertaking lawful tendering. They denied the charges and were released on a cash bail of Sh300,000 each. The hearing is scheduled for August 31.