Parliament vets Cabinet Secretary Nominees

Parliament’s Committee on Appointments is this morning set to start the public vetting of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s nine new nominees to the Cabinet.

First at the meeting at County Hall is Prof Margaret Kobia, who has been nominated to become the new Cabinet Secretary for the Public Service, Youth and Gender Affairs ministry.

She will be followed by John Munyes (Petroleum  and Mining) at 10.30am, Monica Juma (Foreign Affairs and International Trade) at 12pm, Farida Karoney (Land, Housing and Urban Development) at 2pm and Peter Munya (East African Community and Northern Corridor Development) at 3.30pm.

Last night, the committee said affidavits have been submitted against four nominees it did not name.

The Nation is however aware of affidavits against Mr Munya, who will be interviewed later today, and Rashid Achesa (Sports and Heritage) who will be interviewed tomorrow.

In the case of Mr Munya, an affidavit was submitted by Kennedy Echesa Lubengu, who argues that the former Meru Governor is not fit to be a minister because of a range of accountability issues that arose from his time as a county boss.

The committee is chaired by speaker Justin Muturi and has MPs only from the Jubilee side after Nasa said that it will not be party to the process in protest of the outcome of the 2017 presidential election outcome.

The Public Appointments (Parliamentary Approval) Act, which provides for how Parliament handles approval processes, stipulates that any memoranda presented to the committee must be inform of sworn affidavits.

In the one against Mr Munya, Mr Lubengu also cites the former governor’s defiance of Senate summons to respond to queries raised by the Auditor-General on Meru County’s accounts for the time he was in charge and his refusal to suspend a former senior employee of the county accused of corruption.

The graduate of Masinde Muliro University also wants Mr Munya, a former lecturer at Moi University, rejected for causing a diplomatic spat between Kenya and Somalia when he visited the self-declared state of Somaliland in 2016.

Somalia temporarily banned miraa flights from Kenya in September 2016, accusing Mr Munya of seeking a trade agreement with the breakaway region of Somaliland in exchange for some sort of recognition.

Mr Lubengu says that the incident showed that Mr Munya is of a reckless and arrogant character and can therefore not be expected to work towards cohesion in the East African Community, which Somalia has applied to join.

“I sincerely declare that having stated as above it is my firm and sincere belief that Hon Peter Gatirau Munya does not pass the test for appointment as Cabinet Secretary as set out under the law,” Mr Lubengu said in the affidavit submitted to the National Assembly yesterday.

He also asked to be given 15 minutes to present his case when the Committee on Appointments starts public interviews on the vetting on Thursday (tomorrow).

Mr Lubengu argues that because Mr Munya was on the list of 175 State Officers and civil servants under investigation for corruption-related offences submitted to Parliament by President Uhuru Kenyatta in March 2015.

Mr Munya was accused by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission of abuse of office  and misuse of public funds on fuel, service and repair of a private vehicle.

President Kenyatta at the time asked those adversely mentioned to step aside and Mr Munya was among governors who did not leave office.

Mr Lubengu also cites the reports of the Auditor-General for the four financial years Mr Munya was in charge of Meru County, saying that the then governor should be cited over unexplained  pending bills, unsupported payments, direct procurement on leasing of county offices and irregular procurement in the construction of 20 bodaboda stations.

He also wants the Mr Munya’s nomination thrown out because of the Auditor-General’s queries around the unaccounted expenditure on a Meru Diaspora Investments Conference, irregular upgrading of Kinoru Stadium, irregularities in recruitments and existence of illegal bank accounts.

Mr Lubengu also wants the former governor rejected for his failure to take action against Jacob Kirera, who was the Finance Secretary for the county, when he was arrested and charged in 2016.

He argues that while the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act required that the public officer be suspended and put on half-pay, Mr Munya refused to do so. The High Court has since ruled that Mr Munya was in the wrong on that account.

In a judgment delivered in October last year, Justice Francis Gikonyo said that Mr Kirera should have been suspended and put on half-pay until the conclusion of the criminal case against him.

Executive director of the Kenya Human Rights Commission Mr George Kegoro is among those who have written to Mr Muturi requesting for a meeting with the committee on the nature of the vetting process and the individuals to be vetted. 

Mr Kegoro argues that vetting should not be a preserve of those being nominated for appointment for the first time.

“Our understanding of the law is that each proposed appointment whether for the first time or not, is subject to vetting by the National Assembly. The persons that were serving whether in the cabinet or in other capacities before, are also subject to vetting in the same way as those that will be appointed for the first time,” Mr Kegoro said in the letter copied to Attorney General Prof Githu Muigai.

The four to be vetted tomorrow: Keriako Tobiko (Environment and Forestry), Simon Chelugui (Water and Sanitisation), Ukur Yattani (Labour and Social Protection) and Rashid Achesa Muhamed (Sports and Heritage).

The committee’s report should be ready by the time the National Assembly resumes sittings on February 13.