Nairobi Star (Nairobi)
2 December 2008
Nairobi — Cabinet Ministers and former Members of Parliament are angry over an attempt by the Kenya Anti Corruption Commission to prosecute them for irregularly receiving Sh 20.3 million in allowances.
According to KACC, Minister of Information Samuel Poghisio was improperly paid Sh1.5million on October 10, 2006 and then Sh1.3 million on November 11, 2007. The payments were recorded as an allowance for "parliamentary service holders" but the anti-graft body says the allowance is unknown to the law governing the Parliamentary Service Commission.
Assistant Minister of Defence and former Deputy Speaker David is accused of dishonestly receiving Sh5.6 million.
KACC also claim the following politicians were paid money contrary to the National Assembly Remuneration Act: Sh 2.8 million to Justin Muturi, former MP Siakago; Sh 700,000 to Ekwe Ethuro, MP Turkana Central; Sh2.8 million to Joseph Kamotho, former Mathira MP; Sh 2.8 million to Oloo Aringo, former nominated MP; and Sh 2.8 million to Daniel Khamasi, former Shinyalu MP.
KACC wants judgment against each of the seven defendants for the amount claimed.
Only Musila's case has been filed at the High Court while the rest have been lodged at the Milimani Commercial Chief Magistrate's court.
Information Minister Poghisio said he was shocked to learn that KACC had gone to court seeking a refund of the money.
"This is pure malice intended to soil people's names. I was not a member of PSC that passed the resolution to pay that money. I never filled any form to claim it but I was asked to pick the money from the cash office.
How then can I get sued for this?" wondered Poghisio.
He said neither KACC or Parliament had ever asked him to return the money and it was wrong for Justice Aaron Ringera to issue a summons without seeking a statement from him.
While some the MPs were oblivious of what they were being sued for, former Siakago MP Justine Muturi said he never claimed anything from Parliament except mileage.
"The rest of the allowances were paid by PSC for being a whip, member of chairman's panel, commissioners, etc. They resolved to do so," stated Muturi.
"You are looking for honourable Ethuro, people always call this number thinking that it is his," said the person who answered Ethuro's cellphone after he learnt why the Nairobi Star was calling him.
Musila said KACC diector Aaron Ringera did not know what he was doing.
"This is not a matter that one has to go to court. If my employer paid me allowances irregularly, all Ringera needs to do is write to Parliament advising the Clerk to recover the money and the Clerk will inform me before deducting it," said Musila. He said if KACC believed it was wrong for the PSC to pay him then it should sue PSC.
"This is not a criminal matter. I was paid by PSC. It is PSC to say how it intends to recover the money," insisted Musila.
A Cabinet resolution decided that ministers and assistant ministers should be paid gratuity of Sh 2.4 million and Sh 1.2 million after every two years. The PSC followed suit and resolved to pay MPs similar amounts even though this was not covered under the Parliamentary Remuneration Act.
"Like Cabinet, the PSC passed a resolution to pay its officials, who were helping the commissioners run matters in Parliament," stated a source at Parliament.
Apparently the only PSC officials not paid the allowances included then Speaker Francis Kaparo, then leader of official opposition, Uhuru Kenyatta and then Vice-President Moody Awori.
The monies were paid to MPs in the Ninth Parliament between 2003 and 2007.
The KACC say these allowances were in breach of the law governing the remuneration of MPs and members of the PSC.
KACC says that it took the MPs to court because they had refused to refund the money despite several demands.
Reports by Pamela Chepkemei, Andrew Teyie and Paul Ilado
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 Nairobi Star. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
