Anti-graft body gets nod to access Muhammad Swazuri’s wealth forms

Parliament has granted permission to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to access the wealth declaration form of National Lands Commission chairman Muhammad Swazuri and his deputy Abigael Mukolwe.

This is in relation to the investigations on graft arising from compensation of individuals and institutions affected by the standard gauge railway project.

The anti-graft commission had requested Parliament, which is the custodian of the wealth declaration forms of all public and State officers, to grant them access to the forms to aid their investigations over the matter.

The National Assembly Committee on Powers and Privileges chaired by Speaker Justin Muturi, in a meeting with the NLC chairman, his deputy and officials on Wednesday gave EACC the documents.

WITCHUNT

Mr Muturi said the committee complied with the Public Office Ethics Act 2003 in availing the documents solely for the purpose of investigations and not witchunt.

“As a committee we have nothing to hide and we have not acted in malice when giving EACC the documents but they have given satisfactory reasons on why they need them,” Mr Muturi said.

Section 30(1) of Public Officer Ethics Act states that, “The contents of a declaration or clarification under this Act shall be accessible to any person upon application to the responsible commission in the prescribed manner if the applicant shows to the satisfaction of the responsible commission that he or she has a legitimate interest and good cause in furtherance of the objectives of this Act.”

WEALTH DECLARATION

The Speaker urged EACC to strictly abide by the law by not publishing the information contained in the wealth declaration forms or make the contents public.

Both Mr Swazuri and Ms Mukolwe said they had nothing to hide and allowed the committee to give EACC the documents they needed for the purpose of their investigations.

EACC Director of Investigations Abdi Mohamed told the committee that the agency received some information in regards to corruption claims.

“The two are targeted for this SGR project investigation and we thank the committee for giving us the forms,” Mr Mohamed said. Last year, the Anti-corruption detectives raided the homes Prof Swazuri, vice-chairman Abigael Mbagaya Mukolwe and chief executive officer Tom Aziz Changingi.

COMPENSATION

The queries include “compensation to individuals for public land, double compensation, compensation to people who did not own land acquired for SGR project, excessive compensation as a result of over valuation, compensation in regard to Kenya Railway Reserve land,” according to the EACC.

Former journalist Mugo Njeru last year petitioned parliament to investigate Mr Swazuri claiming the chairman asked him for a bribe to facilitate compensation for his prime land, which the government acquired for the standard gauge railway project.

Mr Njeru and his wife Edith Wairimu accused Mr Swazuri of demanding a bribe of Sh1.2 million.