Cord leader Raila Odinga offers no apology to CBK boss

Cord leader Raila Odinga on Wednesday accused Central Bank of Kenya chairman Mohammed Nyaoga of abetting the theft of the Sh250 billion Eurobond money.

In a reply to a demand by Mr Nyaoga that he apologise and retract his statement linking him to the scandal, Mr Odinga accused the CBK boss of acting as a “bystander” as the Eurobond billions were being stolen.

Mr Odinga’s letter came as the Jubilee coalition dared him to speak on oath when he appears before the Public Accounts Committee to shed light on the saga next week.

“It is unbelievable that in this day and age, your client can contemplate legal proceedings from which he confidently expects a judicial outcome that would absolve him from all obligations placed on him by the Constitution and the laws and that would declare that he is entitled to act as a bystander as the greatest scandal in the history of this nation unfolds,” Mr Odinga, through his lawyer Paul Mwangi, wrote back to Mr Nyaoga’s advocates.

His response came as National Assembly Majority Leader Adan Duale said that Jubilee MPs had very “tough questions” to put to him and challenged him to speak on oath when he appears before the watchdog committee.

“I dare Raila to take an oath before he speaks to the committee. We want ample space to accommodate all of us. Let the meeting be held in the chambers of the National Assembly and let there be enough security,” Mr Duale added.

“I doubt whether the Raila I know will ever appear before the committee. He refused to appear before the DPP and DCI, but I dare him to appear before the MPs so that we take him to task over his outbursts on the Eurobond,” he told the Nation.

PAC chairman Nicholas Gumbo said at the weekend that Mr Odinga had requested to appear before the committee to shed more light on the multibillion-shilling Eurobond issue.

Addressing a crowd outside the Milimani Law Courts in Nairobi on Tuesday, Mr Odinga warned he still had more dossiers on the Eurobond and dared those he had named as the suspects in the matter to seek redress in court.

RUFFLING FEATHERS

“Si mnajua mambo ya Eurobond? Mambo bado. Wakitaka kuenda kortini, niko tayari hata jana (Don’t you know the Eurobond matter? There is still more to come. If they want to go to court, I am ready),” Mr Odinga told the cheering crowd.

Mr Odinga ruffled feathers last week when he named senior government officials he claimed were behind the loss of the money.

They include the chief of staff in the Office of the President and head of the public service, Mr Joseph Kinyua, Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich, Principal Secretary Kamau Thugge, CBK officials, including chairman Nyaoga, director of financial markets John Birech, financial markets manager Moses Muthui, the chief accountant at the National Treasury, Mr Bernard Ndungu, Treasury chief  accountant Julius Kilinda and former CBK governor Njuguna Ndung’u.

Mr Nyaoga, Mr Kinyua and Prof Ndung’u have threatened to sue Mr Odinga over his claims. Mr Odinga denied using any offensive words against Mr Nyaoga and maintained that he is “a person of interest” in the saga by virtue of his office.

“It is not clear whether your client, by denying that he is a ‘person of interest’ in the Eurobond saga, is denying that there is authority that is bestowed on him by the Central Bank of Kenya Act and similarly denying that there are duties placed on him by the Constitution of Kenya, the Public Officer Ethics Act and the said Central Bank of Kenya Act,” Mr Odinga stated.

Mr Odinga noted that so long as Mr Nyaoga retained his position and discharged the duties bestowed upon the holder of that office, he would remain a “person of interest” in the Eurobond saga.