Cord reads malice in new law on auditor Ouko

What you need to know:

  • The Opposition believes there is a grand scheme by the government to either kick him out of office or water down the powers of his office in what Siaya Senator James Orengo has termed the unmaking of the Constitution.
  • But there is also a school of thought in government, whether real or imagined, that officials like Mr Ouko have been feeding Opposition chief Raila Odinga with information concerning financial scandals in government.

Could Auditor-General Edward Ouko be a marked man, having authored reports that show brazen misuse of public funds that have annoyed some Jubilee luminaries?

The Opposition believes there is a grand scheme by the government to either kick him out of office or water down the powers of his office in what Siaya Senator James Orengo has termed the unmaking of the Constitution.

Aided by the graft reports, Cord has sought to reinvent itself and having a go at the government after a poor show in the first two years of Mr Kenyatta’s administration.

The Sunday Nation has gathered that some of the immediate triggers are the financial scam at the National Youth Service and the Eurobond saga.

The Opposition’s uproar stems from President Uhuru Kenyatta’s move on Friday to assent to the Public Audit Bill that considerably clips the powers of the auditor-general.

The Jubilee administration has been on the defensive, first denying cases of graft at NYS, only to later admit that some money had indeed been lost.

But there is also a school of thought in government, whether real or imagined, that officials like Mr Ouko have been feeding Opposition chief Raila Odinga with information concerning financial scandals in government.

How else would a man who is not in government be often so accurate in some of the allegations he makes? they wonder.

The Opposition argues the creation of the office of a deputy in the Bill creates a fertile ground for the whimsical removal of the auditor-general.

The law gives the executive, through the Public service Commission, some form of control over the watchdog. The commission will now hire staff and second them there, meaning the staff may have their loyalty in the commission, directly supervised by the Presidency.

The aim, they charge, is to target critical offices that perform an oversight role to instill fear in them.

They would therefore be reluctant to author reports that are outrightly critical of the government.

Senator Orengo points the plan is to place the auditor-general’s office under the supervisory control of the commission.

“What you see happening now a campaign by the National Assembly to undo key milestones we have made in the sphere of the constitution. They are out to emasculate these independent offices via ordinary legislation,” he said.

Mr Orengo claimed history was repeating itself more violently, ushering in a new phase of imperial presidency.

“The tyranny of numbers has meant that parliament operates like an appendage of the executive arm of government,” he said.

The Majority Leader in the National Assembly, Aden Duale, says of Mr Orengo’s assertions; “We have seen cases when the National Assembly defies the president yet he accepts it. To therefore say that he was out to cripple the Constitution is not honest. The president respects the supreme laws of the country.” He denied there is any plot to sack Mr Ouko.

Mr Ouko’s term ends in 2019. He can only be removed from office through a tribunal.