Raila ‘ready to face PAC probe team’
Parliamentary Accounts Committee Chair Ababu Namwamba (R) during the hearing on 'hustlers' jet on November 7, 2013. FILE PHOTO | DIANA NGILA | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- This comes as the House committee investigating allegations of bribery and impropriety facing the Public Accounts Committee said Mr Odinga would be invited.
- The committee, chaired by Kuresoi North MP Moses Cheboi, picked MPs Mohammed Elmi, Joseph Lekuton and Ali Wario after a two-hour closed door meeting in Parliament Buildings.
- The recording has raised a storm within the party, but the Budalang’i MP argued that the tape would exonerate him against the corruption claims levelled against him by some MPs.
Cord co-principal Raila Odinga is willing to work with the National Assembly to address the tribulations facing PAC chairman Ababu Namwamba.
This comes as the House committee investigating allegations of bribery and impropriety facing the Public Accounts Committee said Mr Odinga would be invited.
The team said he would be asked to clarify issues regarding the involvement of his name in the matters regarding Mr Namwamba, the ODM secretary-general.
Sources close to the former Prime Minister said he held a meeting with the Budalang’i MP on Sunday, where it was agreed that they will consult the National Assembly leadership over the matter.
The meeting, which is understood to have taken two hours from 11.30am at Capitol Hill Centre in Upper Hill, Nairobi, was attended by Cord co-principals Kalonzo Musyoka and Moses Wetang’ula.
This was after revelations that Mr Namwamba recorded a meeting he held earlier with Mr Odinga at Fairview Hotel, Nairobi when he sought his party leader’s help over the allegations against him.
The recording has raised a storm within the party, but the Budalang’i MP argued that the tape would exonerate him against the corruption claims levelled against him by some MPs.
He also said neither Mr Odinga nor Mr Wetang’ula had helped him since the tribulations started.
“I have not been supported to a good extent by my party leader or Mr Moses Wetang’ula (Senate Minority Leader) as many media outlets have been reporting,” he said on Saturday.
Yesterday, the Powers and Privileges committee, which was expanded last week by House Speaker Justin Muturi to include three members who had served more than one term was fully constituted in readiness for the probe beginning today.
The committee, chaired by Kuresoi North MP Moses Cheboi, picked MPs Mohammed Elmi, Joseph Lekuton and Ali Wario after a two-hour closed door meeting in Parliament Buildings.
Mr Cheboi, whom Mr Muturi chose to replace him in the committee, said they had agreed on the three because they had not taken sides.
“We were looking at particular regions that are not well represented in this committee, their expertise and those who have not taken a position in this matter. There are other members whom we think could have suited us but have already taken positions,” he said.
NAME MENTIONED
Mr Cheboi said the team would call on Mr Odinga, tentatively on Friday, to appear before the committee because his name has been mentioned. However, he said that the ODM leader had a minimal role in the probe.
“He has been mentioned and we have agreed that he appears before the team. He is just mentioned. Somebody must have taken something from his office. He is not a suspect,” he said.
On Tuesday, the committee will decide on the modus operandi and whom to call to appear before it as from Wednesday.
The team’s sittings will be in private, although Mr Cheboi said they would be briefing the media at the end of every session. Mr Namwamba is expected to appear on Wednesday.
