Kanini Kega blames House leaders over rejected sugar report
What you need to know:
While a majority of the MPs are said to have taken bribes to reject the report on the contraband sugar, Mr Kega said the buck stops with Mr Duale and Mr Mbadi.
The sugar report implicates Treasury CS Henry Rotich, EAC CS Adan Mohamed who was then in charge of the trade docket, and former Agriculture boss Willy Bett.
The chairman of the parliamentary committee investigating the sugar importation scandal has turned the heat on Majority Leader Aden Duale and Minority Leader John Mbadi, calling for their grilling over rejected report.
Mr Kanini Kega, who heads the Trade, Industry and Cooperatives Committee alleged Duale was behind the decision by MPs to throw out the sugar report on Thursday last week.
The legislator said he will engage the Directorate of Criminal investigations and the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission to investigate the MPs who allegedly received bribes to reject the report that implicates senior individuals in government.
While a majority of the MPs are said to have taken bribes to reject the report on the contraband sugar, Mr Kega said the buck stops with Mr Duale and Mr Mbadi.
“Everybody present at the National Assembly on Thursday will be investigated to tell the truth but Duale and Mbadi must be the first to respond to queries,” he said.
CSs IMPLICATED
The sugar report implicates National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich, East African Community Cabinet Secretary Adan Mohamed who was then in charge of the trade docket, and former Agriculture boss Willy Bett.
“The MPs were aggrieved by the fact I had mentioned people in power who are involved in the unscrupulous trade of illegal sugar hence the reason they rejected my report within 20 minutes without reading it. It was a predetermined move,” he said.
He was speaking at Kamariki Catholic Church in Kieni Constituency on Sunday where he attended a fundraiser.
“It is shameful that an elected leader can take money to shoot down a report that cost the taxpayers millions of money. Some leaders are not setting a good example to Kenyans,” he said.
'SUGAR SAFE'
He said he will not be compromised in the fight to end smuggling of illegal sugar into the country.
“I want to assure Kenyans that I will remain firm and steadfast in my oversight role to ensure unscrupulous traders do not infiltrate the market with illegal goods,” he said.
He, however assured Kenyans that the sugar in the market is safe for human consumption and does not contain mercury or copper or lead as earlier claimed.
Mr Kega said that the Kenya Bureau of Standards investigations had conducted thorough surveillance of the market and found the sugar was safe for consumption.
The sugar that was impounded, Mr Kega said, was contaminated with chemicals and will be burnt in an open field.
