It’s back to square one as MPs throw out sugar report

The National Assembly Thursday shot down a committee report on the contraband sugar in a move that will severely dent the government’s efforts to fight sugar smuggling in the country.

The rejection of the report now leaves Kenyans with an expenditure of over Sh10 million gone to waste. The amount was paid to the 38 members of the joint committee in sitting allowances as they conducted the investigations.

The amount does not, however, include transport, accommodation, and meals incurred by the members during their field visits to Mombasa, Bungoma and Nairobi.

LOBBYING

It also does not include what was paid to the parliamentary staff — the committee clerks, sergeant-at-arms, personal assistants and their security details — who provided support services.

According to the Salaries and Remuneration Commission rates of 2017, after taxation, committee chairmen are paid a Sh12,000 sitting allowance, vice chairpersons earn Sh7,000, while ordinary members take home Sh5,000.

The House was unusually full and members of parliament keen to contribute to the report of the joint committee. According to some members, there was intense lobbying to discredit the report, which would have dealt a blow to the careers of some public officials.

REJECTED

With the rejection, National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich, his EAC counterpart Adan Mohamed and former Agriculture CS Willy Bett can now heave a sigh of relief as the report had recommended they be held accountable for the presence of the sugar in the country.

A proposal by Nakuru Town member David Gikaria to form a special task force to review and improve the report so that it could be adopted and acted upon was flatly rejected. This means Parliament can only address the problem by appointing another committee that would have to start from scratch.

FLOODGATES

Homa Bay Woman Representative Gladys Wanga’s proposal to hold Mr Rotich and Mr Bett personally liable for the flooding of the market with bad sugar was shot down despite the support of Jubilee majority whip in the National Assembly, Benjamin Washiali.

Mr Washiali said Mr Rotich had been warned that opening the floodgates for duty-free sugar would affect over 300,000 farmers, mostly in Nyanza, western and coastal regions.

“I want my fellow members to sympathise with those of us who represent sugarcane growers. Mr Rotich was well advised on March 18, 2015 that the gazette notice he was planning to issue was going to affect sugarcane farmers in the country,” Mr Washiali said.

SH10.6 BILLION

Kipipiri MP Amos Kimunya told Speaker Justin Muturi that Ms Wanga’s proposal was illegal as it went against the spirit of the Constitution. Mr Kimunya argued that the proposal amounted to an impeachment of Mr Rotich, which under Article 152 of the Constitution can only be moved for gross violation of the law.

The joint sittings of the two committees, co-chaired by Mandera South MP Adan Ali and his Kieni colleague Kanini Kega, had indicted some individuals and 14 companies for bringing in the commodity and evading Sh10.6 billion in taxes.

It recommended that the sugar, which was unfit for human consumption, be destroyed. Dagoretti North MP Simba Arati told the Nation yesterday that those uncomfortable with the report had influenced the outcome of the debate.

PUBLIC COURT

Minority leader and Suba South MP John Mbadi opened the defence of CS Rotich and former CS Bett by saying they were “clean” on the sugar issue. He had to stop his contribution for a moment after interruption from other members.

“There is nothing in this report that implicates Mr Rotich. Let us not play politics,” Mr Mbadi told his colleagues. He argued that it was the responsibility of agencies like Kenya Bureau of Standards to ensure the quality of sugar coming into the country once Mr Rotich allowed the imports.

Majority leader Aden Duale invoked President Uhuru Kenyatta’s name in defence of Cabinet Secretaries. He told MPs not to indict ministers and other public officers through a public court.

INTERROGATE

Ruaraka MP Tom Kajwang’ blamed the committee for the rejection of its report, saying it had neither stuck to the terms of reference nor relied on witnesses who appeared before it.

Government Chemist Ali Gakweli had detected traces of mercury, copper and lead, among other contaminants, during tests on samples of sugar seized in Nairobi’s Eastleigh, Ruiru and Bungoma, but this now appears lost. The MPs had used Mr Gakweli’s report to come up with their own findings.

Mr Kega defended the report, saying MPs had not taken time to “properly read and interrogate it”, and had chosen to only focus on Cabinet Secretaries. “Some of the questions naively being asked have been answered. As the captain of the committee, I stand by the report,” Mr Kega said.

GAGGED

Despite the pleas, and after the high octane debate, the nays carried the day when Mr Muturi put the question on adoption to members at 5.43pm.

Some MPs interpreted the rejection as a win for sugar cartels while questioning how the debate was conducted.

“We are dissatisfied with the way we were gagged during the debate,” said Mr James K’Oyoo. His view was held by Mr Arati, who said only MPs opposing the report caught the Speaker’s eye.