Business Daily (Nairobi)
Mwaura Kimani And Jim Onyango
1 July 2008
Government programmes in the financial year became the first casualties of the controversy surrounding the secretive sale of the Grand Regency Hotel.
Parliament suspended debate on all Bills and motions initiated by Treasury until the matter is dealt with to its satisfaction. This means that key fiscal and monetary motions due for discussion in the House will be delayed, throwing the implementation of the budget that won praise as Finance minister Amos Kimunya's best, into jeopardy.
The law requires the minister to take before the House a Finance Bill containing all the taxation measures proposed in his budget for debate and approval. Parliament also holds the sole mandate of approving the proposed expenditures for all government ministries and departments.
It is only after Parliament has approved these votes that the executive gets the mandate to draw from the Consolidated Fund. The suspension of debate on motions moved by Mr Kimunya means that programmes requiring urgent financing such as free primary and secondary education, the Constituency Development Fund and money needed to support growth in an economy reeling from the recent political turmoil will be disrupted.
Temporary Speaker Gitobu Imanyara made the ruling citing public interest and the mood of the House following calls by MPs who have been pushing for the formation of a Grand Opposition.
With all signs showing that the Grand Regency saga is unlikely to be resolved any time soon, the country now faces the prospect of greater economic turbulence and severe hardships as financing of social programmes suffers lack of funding.
Yesterday, the Speaker had approved a motion of no confidence in Mr Kimunya fronted by Public Accounts Committee chair Bonny Khalwale. The motion is likely to be debated this morning.
Mr Imanyara referred the motion seeking Mr Kimunya's resignation to the Kalonzo Musyoka- led House Business Committee to decide when it will be tabled. Mr Kalonzo immediately convened the committee last evening.
Lands Minister James Orengo who blew the whistle on the secretive sale of the hotel is also expected to shed more light on the deal in Parliament this afternoon.
While seeking permission from the Speaker to issue a ministerial statement on the matter, Mr Orengo said the deal was corrupt since the Cabinet was not briefed.
Yesterday the civil society and a section of MPs demanded the sacking of Mr Kimunya, who has owned up to the deal, which he has described as the best bargain for the facility.
"The Police Commissioner should institute criminal proceedings against Kimunya," said Ms Anne Njogu, an anti-corruption activist who spoke at a gathering of a meeting of officials of non governmental organizations in Nairobi. "We are capable of mobilizing the masses to cripple government operations if Kimunya is not sacked."
The hotel sale has a triggered national outrage, spelling doom for the volatile Grand Coalition Government set up in April to end a post-election crisis.
Analysts said the saga is the biggest test of unity yet for the Government, which was formed on the platform of among other things eradicating graft.
The deal involving Libyan investors has also added to suspicions of continued large-scale corruption after a series of scandals over the years -- which some foreign investors cite as a major deterrent to investment.
The controversy has weighed slightly on the local currency which continued to weaken yesterday, to close at 65.00/10 to the dollar from 64.70/80 on Friday.
Prime Minister Raila Odinga last evening held a meeting of the Cabinet's committee on finance and administration of which Kimunya is a member to discuss the saga.
Journalists were kept away from the PM's office at the Treasury building. The PM is said to have requested journalists to stay away from the building with promises that they will be called for a briefing later. By the time of going to press, the briefing had not been called.
Sources said Nairobi Metropolitan minister Mutula Kilonzo, Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi, Justice Minister Martha Karua and Mr Orengo also attended the meeting.
Mr Kimunya, who is facing calls to quit office, reversed prior remarks that the government-owned hotel had not been sold.
On Friday, Mr Kimunya, however, said it had been bought at a cost of Sh2.9 billion, adding that it was an "irresistible offer."
The price tag was by far lower than the Sh4 billion said to have been attached to the property in 1994, while property experts now value it at between Sh4.5 and Sh6 billion.
Mr Kimunya insisted the deal was above-board and had fetched the best possible price for Kenyan taxpayers.
Mr Orengo on Monday produced transaction documents, saying the hotel had in fact been sold for Sh1.85 billion and not Sh2.8 billion.
The controversy has also drawn into it Central Bank governor, Prof Njuguna Ndung'u, who Mr Orengo claimed had signed the agreement sealing the sale .
Mr Khalwale claimed in Parliament yesterday that the Charge de' Affairs at the Libyan embassy in Nairobi had been recalled.
When the Business Daily called officials at the embassy for a comment, those who answered the calls said the official had been asked to report to Tripoli last week.
We later learnt that the highest ranking official in the embassy is a Mr Ahmed Mabrouk.
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