More cracks emerge in Jubilee as URP MPs finger State officials

The fall-out from the National Youth Service scandal continued Saturday with Jubilee coalition partners engaging in a war of words and finger-pointing.

Whereas President Uhuru Kenyatta’s TNA wing largely asked those named in the scandal to deal with the issue as individuals, those from Deputy President William Ruto’s URP side accused their allies of scheming to bring down their top leaders.

Two URP MPs escalated the conflict when they accused two presidential advisers of plotting Mr Ruto’s downfall.

MPs Cornelius Serem (Aldai) and Elijah Lagat (Chesumei) named Mr Abdikadir Mohamed (Constitutional Affairs adviser) and Ms Nancy Gitau (Political adviser) for supposedly working behind the scenes to sabotage leading URP figures.

“Recently, we saw the TNA side distancing themselves from the graft — that it was not a Jubilee issue. It means we are not together,” said Mr Lagat.

Mr Serem said that the URP was an equal partner in the ruling coalition.

“We don’t need lectures from Ms Gitau and Mr Mohamed who were not part of the team that formed the government. We know what they are doing at night to remove our members. These advisers don’t know that politics is not like a church where you are baptised by water, but fire,” he said.

However, Ms Gitau declined to comment on the claims when the Sunday Nation contacted her while Mr Mohamed did not immediately respond to our enquiries.

The lawmaker claimed that some individuals close to State House worked to remove former CSs Davis Chirchir (Energy), Felix Koskei (Agriculture), former Chief Registrar of the Judiciary Gladys Shollei and Supreme Court Judge Philip Tunoi, former Chief of Staff in the DP’s office Marianne J Kitany and were now targeting Senate Deputy Majority Leader Kipchumba Murkomen.

The latest controversy over the loss of at least Sh791 million from NYS was touched off by two affidavits, one by Ms Josephine Kabura, a suspect, and another by former Devolution Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru in which she accused key political figures of playing a role in the scandal.

Ms Waiguru named Majority Leader Aden Duale, Senator Kipchumba Murkomen and Mr Ruto’s personal assistant Farouk Kibet for influence peddling and alluded they could have benefited from the scandal.

In her affidavit, Ms Waiguru quoted former NYS Deputy Director-General Aden Harakhe as claiming that Mr Duale had warned him that he would need political support from URP.

DP 'TARGETED'

Ms Waiguru said Mr Murkomen visited her office and demanded a stop to investigations, failing which the former CS was to face unspecified consequences.

Mr Duale and Mr Murkomen have denied the accusations and asked Ms Waiguru to carry her own cross.

In Embu on Saturday, leaders allied to TNA asked those named in the affidavit to stop dragging in the name of the President and Jubilee.

Central Kenya political caucus chairman Dennis Waweru (Dagoretti) and Kabando wa Kabando (Mukurwe-ini), Waihenya Ndirangu (Roysambu) and MCAs from 11 counties in the region told those implicated to carry their own cross.

“There is nothing that has been cited as pertaining to any region, any community, the Jubilee coalition or the affiliate parties,” they said in the statement.

The same sentiments were shared by Embu Senator Lenny Kivuti and Mbeere North MP Charles Njagagua.

The Sunday Nation has learnt that immediately after Ms Waiguru’s affidavit hit the news, Mr Ruto called President Uhuru Kenyatta who was in Israel to brief him.

In the evening, Mr Ruto is reported to have met his close associates to craft a counter strategy to the negative political publicity.

Sources at the meeting, who spoke in confidence, said there was consensus that the Waiguru affidavit was a hatchet job to portray influential URP individuals as corrupt.

There was also the perception that the Deputy President was being targeted.

“We have seen it before and we know the intention is to silence the DP politically,” said the source.

The alleged plot was not lost on Mr Duale in his response to the damning affidavit at his press conference this week.

“If you look at those named, Duale, Murkomen and Farouk and you join the dots, you will see where the last dot ends,” he said.

After declaring an all-out war against Ms Waiguru, the Majority Leader has reportedly been making attempts to mobilise support from politicians in his region, but some have been asking him tough questions.

ON YOUR OWN
It was then decided that Mr Ruto should meet the President upon return from Israel before deciding on the next course of action to avoid splits in government and threats to an impending merger.

The DP was also reportedly waiting for the President to agree on a common front to deal with the NYS saga, which has leaped out of the courts to take a decidedly political turn.

The meeting also reportedly resolved that allegations of a Sh15 billion loss in the Devolution ministry, mostly through the Huduma Centres, should be investigated.

On Saturday, Senator Murkomen and his Nandi counterpart Stephen Sang accused the former CS of dragging names of a section of URP leaders to the Sh791 million NYS scandal.

“We will not allow Waiguru to break up our coalition. Corruption must be fought properly. It is not political, but is about legal questions,” said Mr Murkomen.

They appeared to be responding to remarks by TNA Secretary-General Oloo Onyango and Kieni MP Kanini Kega who have asked Mr Duale and Mr Murkomen not to hide behind the coalition.

Mr Murkomen defended himself against the accusations by Ms Waiguru, saying that the affidavit she handed to the anti-corruption body “had a lot of contradictions”.

“When Ms Waiguru said no money had been lost, we believed her. But when she asked for lighter duties we didn’t know she will come up with a new list comprising me and Duale. She wants to drag our names into the scam as a defensive mechanism. She will sink alone in the ocean of corruption,” said Mr Murkomen.

The senator maintained his innocence in the saga, saying that the Singoei, Sigei and Murkomen law firm had served a client in the case and he was not involved in the corrupt dealings.

“We in Jubilee will not break up under the watch of Ms Waiguru. We will focus on the fight against graft,” he added.

He said EACC is concentrating on trivialities of who met who to sanitise Waiguru instead of digging deep into the loss of funds.

“Not a single person has even questioned why the purported letters Waiguru has annexed to her affidavit lack letterheads. I don’t think such a small thing as a letterhead would escape Harakhe given his many years of experience in public service,” said Mr Murkomen.

MERGER IN TROUBLE
Meanwhile, Nandi Hills MP Alfred Keter and Emurua Dikirr MP Johanna Ng’eno maintained that they will continue to speak against the ills in government.

The debate on Ms Waiguru went on as it emerged that the Jubilee parties’ merger process has been hampered by lack of legal safeguards.

Jubilee has tabled amendments to Political Parties (Amendment) Bill with a provision for MPs and other leaders who disagree on a merger to either cross over to a party of their choice or remain as independent members without any consequence.

This will be a new phenomenon since currently one is expected to seek a new mandate from the electorate when they move to a new party.

The Bill provides that the Registrar of Political Parties will be required to gazette the dissolution of merged parties within seven days and issue a certificate of registration to the new political outfit.

TNA Chairman Johnson Sakaja said the dissolution of parties will not be done until the Bill becomes law.

“We, as parties, cannot dictate the parliamentary process. It will have to take its course. It’s only after that Bill becomes law that we can dissolve the party. The 31st date is not cast in stone,” said Mr Sakaja.