Muturi to rule on MPs' reports on IEBC team, JKIA takeover

National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi is on Tuesday afternoon expected to rule on whether the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) acted legally in recommending the vacation from office of the three remaining members of the electoral commission.

This concerns the loss of Sh9 billion during the 2017 general election.

Mr Muturi is also to rule on whether the Public Investments Committee (PIC) acted in order in recommending, against a Cabinet proposal, that the loss making Kenya Airways (KQ) take over the management of Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA). 

The two applications came up last Thursday as MPs prepared to debate two reports- the special audit by the PAC into the conduct of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission’s (IEBC) during that poll and the PIC’s preliminary report on the JKIA takeover.

DUALE'S CONCERNS

The PIC's decision came up after it stumbled on the proposed takeover while scrutinising d the financial accounts of the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA), which manages all the country’s airstrips and airports.

Majority leader Aden Duale raised the issues in the two reports and sought the Speaker’s ruling before debate.

On the IEBC recommendation, Mr Duale questioned the constitutionality of the PAC’s recommendation, saying that if adopted by the House, it would be illegal and unconstitutional for MPs to purport to sack sitting IEBC commissioners.

“The findings of the PAC will not only offend the Constitution if adopted, but lead to undesired results. It is on this basis that I invite you to find that the report and the findings of the committee are inadmissible as they are contrary to the Constitution. This House shall not be used to violate a Constitution that we swore to defend and preserve,” said Mr Duale, who is Garissa Town member of parliament.

He further noted that a member of a constitutional commission can only be removed from office through a tribunal appointed by the President, on the grounds of serious violation of the Constitution, gross misconduct, mental incapacity, incompetence and bankruptcy.

Regarding the airport, and as PIC chairman Abdulswamad Nassir (Mvita) protested, Mr Duale said, "Recommending against the takeover of JKIA is a fishing expedition because the proposed Cabinet paper has not yet come to this House."

PAC'S DEFENCE

PAC chairman Opiyo Wandayi (Ugunja) and Dr Otiende Amollo (Rarieda) defended their report saying the recommendation did not mean the removal of the commissioners but the initiation of the process.

“The committee is fully aware of the provisions of article 251 of the Constitution and did not present a petition in form of the report. The application by Duale is not only frivolous but blatant waste of the time of this House,” Mr Wandayi said.

Dr Amollo said that if the House does not abide by the committee’s recommendations, it will stifle its constitutional mandate on a matter of great concern to Kenyans.

“There is a distinction between the actual process of removal and initiation. The House initiates the process of removal and we will have complied with article 95 of the Constitution in terms of the oversight mandate of this House. This does not mean that the commissioners vacate office tomorrow,” he said.

DISCREDITED

Consequently, the committee wants the discredited members to vacate office immediately the report is adopted. It also wants them prosecuted if investigative agencies find them culpable.

The three commissioners and their colleagues who resigned in April 2018 - Consolata Nkatha (Vice Chairperson), Margaret Mwachanya and Paul Kurgat - alleged strained relations with Mr Chebukati, are accused of influencing tenders.

They are said to have voted to award OT- Morpho a Sh6.8 billion tender for the supply of Kenya Integrated Electoral Management Systems (KIEMS) kits among many others.