3 July 2008
Nairobi — Parliament has passed a vote of no-confidence against Finance minister Amos Kimunya over his role in the controversial sale of the Grand Regency Hotel.
This means the President can sack him or appoint a commission of inquiry into his conduct. However, the President is not bound by law to take any action against the minister. But Mr Kimunya can choose to resign as minister or await the President's decision.
As Parliament was voting on the Motion on Wednesday, President Kibaki was waiting at Harambee House for a report that was to be handed over by a team appointed by the Cabinet sub-committee on Finance on Tuesday.
The team led by Attorney-General Amos Wako scrutinised the records of the transactions before giving their recommendations. One of them was that Mr Kimunya and other key officials should step down to pave way for investigations. It also recommended that the sale of the hotel be revoked.
On Wednesday evening, Mr Odinga said the report by the Wako team will be discussed by the Cabinet on Thursday morning.
The Motion was introduced by Ikolomani MP Bonny Khalwale, who questioned the minister's role in the Safaricom Initial Public Offering, the sale of the Grand Regency Hotel and the controversy over the money supply contract with De La Rue, among other transactions. Dr Khalwale's Motion was seconded by Budalang'i MP Ababu Namwamba.
And when it was Mr Kimunya's turn to defend himself, he said: "My hands are clean." He then enumerated his past record in fighting corruption since he was appointed Finance minister in 2006.
On Grand Regency, Mr Kimunya said the prestigious hotel was sold for $45 million (about Sh3.15 billion) at a mean exchange rate of Sh70 to the dollar on April 8.
"Following the sale of the hotel by the Central Bank of Kenya, I personally made a statement on the floor of the House in May regarding the disposal of the hotel," he said.
According to him, the amount that had been deposited was exchanged at Sh65 to the dollar resulting in the Sh2.9 billion as the actual price for the sale. "This information regarding the sale of the hotel was availed to the Lands ministry," he told attentive MPs.
Informed
On Monday, Lands minister James Orengo had said that the hotel was sold for Sh1.8 billion during a press conference held in his office.
On Wednesday, Mr Kimunya said that Prime Minister Raila Odinga was informed by the Central Bank Governor, Prof Njuguna Ndung'u, following the sale of the hotel. "The Governor of the CBK orally and in writing informed the Prime minister on this issue... Claims of secrecy should therefore not arise," Mr Kimunya said.
On Mobitelea, the minister said it would be unfair for the House to ask him to answer questions on the shadowy shareholders yet the man who was the minister for Finance in 1999 - when the matter first arose - was still a Member of Parliament.
"This could be answered by an MP who was then serving as the Finance minister in 1999 when the sale was hatched," he said. Nambale MP Chris Okemo was the Finance minister at the time.
On De La Rue, Mr Kimunya said the company was awarded a $51 million tender after a stiff competition to print new generation currency for the period between 2007 and 2009. According to Mr Kimunya, the deal saved the country 20 per cent of the actual amount of money that could have been spent on the new generation notes.
Urging his colleagues to discuss from a point of knowledge, he said that it would be "ridiculous" for Al Kazar to own 11 per cent of Safaricom shareholding as claimed by some MPs.
Mr Kimunya said that he would produce more evidence as he received it and promised to disclose how some of the MPs who have been speaking on the sale were involved in the controversial deal.
Twice, Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka attempted to block the debate pleading with MPs to wait for the outcome of the PM's report on the sale of the hotel to the Libyan Arab African Company Kenya Ltd.
Mr Musyoka is the leader of Government Business in Parliament, and was opposed to the Motion, saying he could not contribute on it effectively because he did not have all the facts. He said the Government would give an official statement on the matter.
His plea to put the Motion on hold was rejected by deputy Speaker Farah Maalim who said that since the matter was on the order paper, it should continue as per the House rules.
The debate exposed divergent opinions in the Grand Coalition government with deputy Chief Whip Jakoyo Midiwo supporting its continuation and accusing Mr Musyoka of trying to portray that it was a fight between the Government and opposition. Mr Kimunya sat silently as the Motion was debated.
In 1989, the then President Moi sacked his Vice-President, Dr Josphat Karanja, after the House passed a vote of no confidence against him. The then Embakasi MP David Mwenje, had accused him of usurping the powers of the President when the head of State was away. He was also accused of ordering some MPs to kneel before him.
On Wednesday, most MPs who supported the Motion against Mr Kimunya demanded that he be sacked over irregularities in the disposal of public assets during his tenure, privatisation of some parastatals and award of Government tenders.
To protect the integrity of the House and in the public interest, they said, Mr Kimunya should resign to pave way for thorough investigations. Among those who supported the Motion were assistant minister Joseph Nkaissery, Dr Khalwale, Mr Namwamba and Mr Jakoyo Midiwo.
Debate on the Motion started at 4pm with MPs accusing Mr Kimunya of disrespecting the House and misleading it and its committees on a number of occasions.
Dr Khalwale who urged MPs to support the motion and often referred to Mr Kimunya as "Prince of Impunity," said the Finance minister ignored the Public Procurement and Disposal Act in the sale of Grand Regency and thus the process lacked transparency and accountability. "We should send Mr Amos Kimunya packing as happened to his predecessor, David Mwiraria," Dr Khalwale said.
MPs, he said, needed to be guided by the interests of majority of poor Kenyans, "the fragile economy we are trying to build, interest of prosperity and need for House, Cabinet, President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga to ensure zero tolerance to corruption".
The MP, however, attracted the speaker's wrath for using unparliamentary language likening Mr Kimunya to a rogue or a leopard which broke into the goats' and sheep pen. The minister, he said, ignored calls to stop the Safaricom IPO and that he accused MPs opposed to it of acting out of ignorance.
Implement law
Mr Kimunya further failed to implement a law creating the Privatisation Commission, until the privatisation of Safaricom and Telkom were over, Dr Khalwale said, adding that the two entities were undervalued.
According to the Ikolomani MP, Mr Kimunya did not disclose to buyers of Safaricom shares that the company had liabilities totalling Sh65 billion and that he only succeeded in paying the debt of people who mismanaged Telkom using taxpayers money.
The Government oversight role at Safaricom had further been reduced following the reduction of its shareholding to 35 per cent "so that the elite club of eaters can continue eating". The reduction of government shares in the crucial telecommunication industry, he said, opened the country to a security risk.
Dr Khalwale said the identity of Libyans who bought Grand Regency was unknown. The transactions, the MP noted, were done without the knowledge of the Attorney-General who is the Government's legal advisor.
In his defence, Mr Kimunya said that the lawyer who had been acting for the Libyans had met the AG "at least six times".
While moving the Motion, Dr Khalwale described De La Rue as a cash cow used to milk taxpayers money and that it was printing old currency notes at a cost which is three times more than that of printing new generation currency.
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"The MP, however, attracted the speaker's wrath for using unparliamentary language likening Mr Kimunya to a rogue or a leopard which broke into the goats' and sheep pen. The minister, he said, ignored calls to stop the Safaricom IPO and that he accused MPs opposed to it of acting out of ignorance". Ha Ha Ha...a leopard can change its spots...grand thieves in the Mother of all coalitions in Africa. Zim's opposition better wake up that Kenya's grand coalition should have been a full fledged transitional government from the start...you see the old thieves that know how to infiltrate the goat's… [Read Full Text]