23 April 2008
Nairobi — An assistant minister wants a team put in place to vet the appointments to top posts in the Public Service.
With such a mechanism, ministers, their assistants, and permanent secretaries would be subjected to scrutiny, said Higher Education assistant minister Kilemi Mwiria.
He noted that the public required "clean" leaders to improve their lives.
Contributing to the debate on a motion asking MPs to endorse a Public Accounts Committee report, Dr Mwiria recalled that President Kibaki, Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka and Prime Minister Raila Odinga promised Kenyans a lean and clean Cabinet.
"It will not be asking too much if we asked the three leaders to now walk the talk," he said. That put him in trouble with Mr Odinga who paused: "Is he (Mwiria) claiming the Cabinet is bloated yet he is an assistant minister?"
Diverse opinion
Dr Mwiria: "I did not say that, for I know the Prime Minister was among the principals who were under pressure to widen the size of the Cabinet to accommodate diverse opinions."
He cast doubts on the ability of the new grand coalition Government to beat corruption "because some people from Kanu who had caused Narc to declare zero tolerance on corruption are now back in power."
"The very people in the public service who are obstacles to change have retained their jobs," he said.
"If we are asking drivers and office messengers to have certificates of good conduct, why not demand the same of permanent secretaries who are in charge of billions of public money?"
Dr Mwiria asked Kenyan ministers to borrow good practices from Tanzania where their counterparts named in corrupt dealings voluntarily quit office to pave the way for investigations.
A total of 27 MPs adopted the report without amendments when temporary deputy Speaker Margaret Kamar put it to vote at 5.45pm.
Kanu MP Abul Bahari described reports of watchdog committees as annual "rituals" that were never implemented.
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