Speaker tells of extortion rings in the House

Ravenous MPs may be using committees to run extortion schemes and bribery rings, says National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi.

In a rare assessment of the National Assembly’s performance, Mr Muturi points an accusing finger at committees that take too long to conclude inquiries and others that take on matters already under the purview of other institutions, say the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) or the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).”

“Committee work of the National Assembly cannot and must not be used as rent-seeking avenue by ravenous leaders,” he said.

He added that this would not be a prudent way of spending taxpayers’ money. “The question is: to whom will this report by a parliamentary committee be addressed, if the relevant arms of government have already moved in?”

Mr Muturi’s concerns are contained in a commentary published elsewhere in this newspaper.

RENT-SEEKING

This is not the first time concerns have been raised about corruption perpetuated by the House, a vice often referred to as rent-seeking.

The Speaker singled out for criticism the Public Accounts Committee, which has travelled to Canada, France, South Africa and India as it investigates the procurement of election materials by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission.

Given that the Auditor-General had already conducted a special audit of the procurement of Biometric Voter Registration, Electronic Voter Identification Devices and the Results Transmission System, the PAC should have used that audit rather than travel.

“We hear Auditor-General Edward Ouko has already investigated this BVR issue yet this committee wants to go to Canada ... Ouko’s report is out; use it,” he said.

He said if there are gaps in the audit report they would want filled, the committee should travel with people who have the capacity to ask the right questions.
“If you travel to India, to Bangalore, you’re not likely to get much,” he said.

Such interests have been cited as the main reason for clashes between some committees. In other cases there has been duplication of investigations where more than one committee seizes on a similar issue and insists on carrying out parallel processes.

A case in point is the recent investigation into the standard gauge railway (SGR) project. Both the Public Investments Committee and the Public Works and Housing Committee conducted parallel probes.

Both endorsed the project.

Some committee reports have also been criticised for failing to capture the real issues and being influenced by political and financial interests.
At a meeting with journalists in Mombasa last December, Mr Muturi spoke of the same concerns. He wondered why cases of members or committees clashing only arise on matters concerning award of contracts and never on legislative issues.

Among committees that have spent an inordinate amount of time handling one matter is the Public Accounts Committee, which ended the year without closing an investigation on the issues around the acquisition of election materials by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission. 

Sources said the committee might even have exhausted its foreign travel budget before completing its investigation.

That is not the only investigation that is still pending before the committee, even though the chairperson is on record, by Public Accounts reports, as blaming a backlog created over the years by previous teams.

JUDICIARY

The committee is also yet to conclude and table its report on investigations into alleged corruption and misappropriation of funds in the Judiciary, despite months of collecting evidence.

The Sunday Nation was informed that a report-writing retreat by the committee failed to deliver, following disagreements on the report structure and on some evidence received. Again, there were reports that members had clashed and taken sides.

Before the House went into recess, the Land Committee tabled a report on the controversial Karen land issue with the mere recommendation that the investigators establish the veracity of the documents presented by those who claim to own the land.

In a 2012 report, parliamentary committees were put on the spot over their ability to objectively conduct investigations into corruption allegations.

The report by The Institute for Social Accountability said party politics and supremacy fights often hinder MPs from approaching oversight tasks and decisions objectively.

Findings of the July 2 report corresponded with the growing feeling among some MPs that Parliament should not be involved in investigations on corruption as politicians always have vested interests. House leaders Jakoyo Midiwo and Aden Duale have in the past accused their colleagues of the same “rent-seeking” the Speaker referred to.