Namwamba: Man under graft siege

What you need to know:

  • And this morning, they will be meeting to determine whether Mr Namwamba will remain as chair or whether he will be removed and ODM asked to name a replacement.
  • They allege that when the committee was scrutinising the Auditor-General’s report on the 2012/2013 financial year, Mr Namwamba could have been involved in improprieties. The report pointed out unexplained expenditure at the Ministry of Provincial Administration.
  • The committee is considered influential because it scrutinises reports detailing how every arm of government has spent money allocated to it.

At least 15 members of the 26 Public Accounts Committee have no-confidence in their chairman, ODM Secretary-General Ababu Namwamba.

The six members from URP, five from TNA, three from ODM and one from Ford People, have also listed five grounds on which they want to oust the head of the most influential watchdog committee of Parliament.

And this morning, they will be meeting to determine whether Mr Namwamba will remain as chair or whether he will be removed and ODM asked to name a replacement.

The seat can only be held by an Opposition legislator. The committee only requires a simple majority to vote out a chairman.

The MPs signed a letter supporting a Motion of no confidence and said they intend to oust Mr Namwamba on the ground of “serious bribery allegations touching on the integrity of the chairman and conduct of members of the committee”.

They allege that when the committee was scrutinising the Auditor-General’s report on the 2012/2013 financial year, Mr Namwamba could have been involved in improprieties. The report pointed out unexplained expenditure at the Ministry of Provincial Administration.

“Money is alleged to have been paid to the chairman to alter (the) report on the committee’s findings and conclusions,” the members said in their petition.

In their letter to Mr Namwamba dated February 19, the 15 MPs accused their chairman of doctoring committee reports, leaking information to the media, high-handedness and bribery.

NO-CONFIDENCE

The letter is the basis of a notice from the Clerk of the National Assembly sent to the committee members asking them to meet this morning to discuss the Motion of no-confidence.

The committee is considered influential because it scrutinises reports detailing how every arm of government has spent money allocated to it. It often invites Principal Secretaries and other accounting officers to explain expenditure that the Auditor-General has questioned.

Its audit of national Budgets is also used by the National Treasury to determine how tax revenues would be shared out between the national and county governments.

Mr Namwamba faces accusations over his handling of investigations into the affairs of the Judicial Service Commission. According to some committee members, there were “claims of money having exchanged hands (sic) to influence the findings and conclusions on the report.”

That report is yet to be finalised. Infighting broke out on Tuesday last week when the committee met to adopt the final recommendations and conclusions after which the report could be tabled in the House.

Mr Namwamba’s adversaries allege that he was also involved in doctoring other committee reports and findings.

They give as an example the report on the 2012/2013 Auditor-General’s report. They allege that their recommendations were altered without consulting members and signatures were collected “to purport that the report had been adopted by the committee”.

Mr Namwamba is also accused of leaking the committee’s reports to the media before they are tabled in the House.

His accusers cited the report on the hiring of a jet by Deputy President William Ruto, later nicknamed “the Hustler Jet”, which was reported in the press long before the report was tabled in Parliament. That report is yet to be debated after the House Business Committee put it on the back burner.

Mr Namwamba has also been accused of having a “tendency to schedule and cancel meetings arbitrarily and picking venues at his own convenience.
“For instance, a workshop in Kisumu was set in such a way that it coincided with the chairman attending to party matters within the region,” they said.

The 15 MPs also accused him of high-handedness and making unilateral decisions on committee issues without consulting members, gagging and being disrespectful to members with divergent views and preventing free expression during committee meetings.

Mr Namwamba appeared to have lost the support of his party, ODM, and that of the Opposition coalition, Cord, whose leadership hastily called off a Parliamentary Group meeting that was scheduled for Tuesday.

INTERFERE
Asked whether the coalition would talk to the ODM MPs in the committee who are believed to be pushing to remove Mr Namwamba, Minority Leader Francis Nyenze said: “The Cord coalition does not interfere with the running of committees. We leave them to run committees and don’t dictate to them what position to take.”

ODM chairman John Mbadi, who is also a member of the committee, said had the meeting taken place, Mr Namwamba would have given the MPs more information about the matter and enabled the coalition to take a stand either for or against the Motion of no-confidence.

“Personally, I have not been persuaded either way. I have no idea what is going on. On that day, I intend to listen to what is said. I’ll take a vote depending on what I hear,” said Mr Mbadi.

Mr Namwamba has described the “noises” against him as the manifestation of corruption fighting back.

“The noises you are hearing are coming from areas where people do not want to be touched and be investigated,” he said.

“If you hit it with an arrow it (corruption) also returns it in full swing. All those noises are because of sensitive areas that we have touched. The truth is coming soon. I have declared war on corruption even at the highest office in the land, Office of the President,” said Mr Namwamba.

Bungoma Senator Moses Wetang’ula Wednesday convened a meeting with the committee members from Cord to strategise on how to rescue Mr Namwamba from the raging storm. However, the meeting at Parliament Buildings did not yield much as those attending resolved that the matter should be left to the committee to decide.