MPs approve bid to sack Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission chiefs
What you need to know:
- Committee wants Uhuru to set up tribunal to investigate Matemu and Keino.
- EACC deputy chief executive officer Michael Mubea was suspended on Monday for 90 days.
Officials of the anti-corruption commission could be forced out of office this week after Parliament’s committee that oversees the institution asked for their suspension.
The Justice and Legal Affairs Committee also wants President Kenyatta to set up a tribunal to investigate the conduct of Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission chairman Mumo Matemu and his deputy, Ms Irene Keino.
In a report tabled in the National Assembly on Tuesday evening, the committee concluded that a petition by Mr Geoffrey Oriaro, a lawyer, had established sufficient grounds for the establishment of the tribunal.
“The petition herein together with the materials in its support be sent to His Excellency the President pursuant to Article 251 of the Constitution,” the committee said.
The House team also indicted the commission’s secretariat and partly blamed it for the problems at the institution.
EACC deputy chief executive officer Michael Mubea was suspended on Monday for 90 days pending investigations into his conduct.
“The committee is convinced that the future of the commission is bleak and the fight against corruption shall fail.
“The problems at the commission are attributable to both the commissioners and the secretariat and the two (teams) cannot work together,” the committee’s report says.
NOTIFIED THE HOUSE
The report is likely to be debated and possibly adopted on Wednesday after committee’s Vice-Chairperson Priscilla Nyokabi notified the House of her intention to have a motion for its adoption presented.
The committee had voted 18-4 at a meeting on Tuesday to adopt the recommendations. Only Ruaraka MP Tom Kajwang’ dissented.
The vote was taken after the members had acrimoniously abandoned recommendations of a report prepared at a stormy meeting last Tuesday that said the petition should be thrown out.
The MPs then resolved to adopt a position taken the Saturday before in Mombasa. They argued that the decision against Ms Keino could also be backed by the report of the Commission on Administrative Justice that indicted her over dealings with the National Social Security Fund.
