My life in danger, says Ababu after playing tape on graft claims

Embattled PAC Chairman Ababu Namwamba testifies before the National Assembly’s Powers and Privileges Committee on March 12, 2015. A tape in which an MP is allegedly recorded admitting to receiving a bribe was played as hearing into corruption allegations against PAC members opened. PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • The MPs forced the committee chaired by Kuresoi North MP Moses Cheboi to open the hearing to the public and the Press and the recording was played on two speakers mounted in the room.
    Mr Namwamba later said that his life was in danger.
  • He says he got Sh200,000 and that the money was also shared with PAC members Kareke Mbiuki and Cecily Mbarire, the vice-chairman.
  • He says that Mr Anyanga contested against him to become PAC chair and that Mr Duale attended that first meeting where he was elected and was bribing and rallying members using money given by the Secretary to the Cabinet, Mr Francis Kimemia.

The recording in which an MP confessed to Cord leader Raila Odinga, Public Accounts Committee chairman Ababu Namwamba and Suna East MP Junet Mohammed that Defence Principal Secretary Mutea Iringo had allegedly bribed him was for the first time played in public Thursday.

Mr Namwamba handed over the 15-minute recording to the Powers and Privileges Committee during yesterday’s meeting, which was also attended by more than 15 MPs from western Kenya who had accompanied the PAC chairman.

The MPs forced the committee, chaired by Kuresoi North MP Moses Cheboi, to open the hearing to the public and the media and the recording was played on two speakers mounted in the room.

Mr Namwamba later said that his life was in danger.

“I am not entirely safe because of the many powerful forces at play here. Whether you are talking about the Office of the President, IEBC, Judiciary, Hustler’s jet; you’re talking about powerful forces,” said Mr Namwamba. “I walk away not feeling entirely safe.”

He said that he would be visiting the Directorate of Criminal Investigations to file his concerns about his safety and that of his family.

Mr Namwamba had arrived at the meeting in a seemingly combative mood, with Homa Bay Town MP Peter Kaluma as his counsel.

HE GOT 200,000

Committee Room 9 looked like a courtroom, with Mr Namwamba, who kept a large bundle of files on his left, selecting what questions to answer, constantly leaning over to consult with Mr Kaluma, trading jokes and laughing easily with his colleagues on all sides.

In the recording he handed over, Mr Namwamba identified the confessor as Nakuru Town West MP Samuel Arama and his audience as Mr Junet Mohammed, Mr Odinga and himself. He, however, did not divulge who made the recording, where and when.

In the recording, Mr Arama details the meeting Mr Iringo allegedly hosted at the Silver Springs Hotel in Nairobi where Sh1.5 million was handed over to Nyatike MP Edick Anyanga and others.

“Then we talked and agreed when we go to Mombasa we’ll see what to do. Why I got curious is when the same Anyanga is saying that Ababu is the one who met Iringo,” Mr Arama said in the recording.

He says he got Sh200,000 and that the money was also shared with PAC members Kareke Mbiuki and Cecily Mbarire, the vice-chairman.

Mr Arama attributed the push to remove Mr Namwamba to MP Ibrahim Abass (Ijara, ODM), who, he alleged, was acting at the behest of Majority Leader Adan Duale, who reportedly pushed PAC member Stephen Manoti (Bobasi, Ford People) to sign the petition against Mr Namwamba.

In the tape, Mr Namwamba, the Budalang’i MP, expressed his anger and disappointment with his Cord colleagues to Mr Odinga, who is referred to as “Your Excellency” throughout the meeting and whose recognisable voice is distinct.

“Your Excellency, I’m very upset. I’m hurt. I’m upset. First of all, I feel betrayed. Secondly, I feel abandoned. Betrayed in the sense that this game is being choreographed by our own people, in our own party. Anyanga is the architect of this matter,” Mr Namwamba says on the tape, where he also repeatedly refers to Mr Anyanga and Mr Abass as crooks.

BRIBING AND RALLYING MEMBERS

He says that Mr Anyanga contested against him to become PAC chairman and that Mr Duale attended the first meeting where he was elected and was bribing and rallying members using money given by the Secretary to the Cabinet Francis Kimemia.

“What kind of secretary-general am I if members of my own party can peddle lies, absolute lies and go ahead and sign a petition for my removal as chairman?” he says. He then expresses his willingness to let the PAC chairmanship go but not to allow “a crook like Anyanga” to take him down.

After he expresses his decision to fight and discusses his history in PAC and his removal as chairman of the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee in the last Parliament, the tape comes to an abrupt end.

Yesterday, Mr Namwamba refused to disclose any details about the recording.

Mr Cheboi, the Kuresoi North MP, said the committee would decide whether to admit the recording as evidence. Mr Namwamba also discussed a trip to India with some PAC members that served up some drama when they got to Hyderabad, where they were meeting 4G Identity Solutions, a firm connected with the IEBC.

Earlier reports indicated that the committee agreed to be hosted by the company they had gone to investigate, but Mr Namwamba disputed the claims as untrue. He said he had stood his ground despite pressure from his colleagues to agree to the offers that included dinner for the delegation.

“When we arrived at the place, we heard that this particular host had made prior arrangements to meet the cost of the dinner. We did not accept it. I insisted that every member must meet the cost of the dinner. Some members indicated that they were not prepared to do so.

“I made arrangements with another member to pay for the dinner. We used the credit card of Sakwa Bunyasi, who stood for other members to pay (for) it,” said Mr Namwamba.

Committee members asked him why he had adversely mentioned Mr Anyanga in a letter to Speaker Justin Muturi about the trip.

“I called a meeting of the entire delegation. The meeting was to inform them that if there is any offer from the hosts, we could not accept it. That basically was the agenda of the meeting. Paying of bills by the hosts was not acceptable. Hon Anyanga was particularly upset with me,” he responded.