MPs hit out at Cabinet Secretary over official trips

By ALPHONCE SHIUNDU

Nairobi, Kenya: A parliamentary committee is furious with the Cabinet Secretary for Information, Communication and Technology, Fred Matiang’i, over his ministry’s failure to include them in domestic and foreign trips.

The MPs who sit in the National Assembly’s Committee on Energy, Information and Communication say the ministry has never invited them for any trip on matters that fall within the committee’s mandate.

The lawmakers are also angry with the ministry for allegedly questioning their participation in a workshop by the Communications Commission of Kenya in Mombasa. The ministry had wanted to know why CCK hosted the MPs without its permission. Details of the MPs’ tiff with Dr Matiang’i and his principal secretary Joseph Tiampati are contained in a report that was tabled in the House on Thursday.

Matiang’i told the MPs he did not ignore the committee when he went to Uganda for a two-day conference because the meeting was “for a short period” and, therefore, he did not see the need for them to attend.

Policy guidelines

While Matiang’i said no letter had been written to the CCK seeking an explanation for taking MPs to the Mombasa meeting, his principal secretary admitted he had written the letter but that he did it “in good faith”.

After upbraiding Matiang’i and his top ministry officials, the MPs now want a copy of the letter that was written to CCK questioning their inclusion in the workshop.

In their report on Kenya Information and Communication (amendment) Bill, the MPs appear to have endorsed the proposed change of name of CCK to Communication Authority of Kenya. The lawmakers also agree that the Cabinet Secretary should be allowed to “issue policy guidelines to the authority” in order to check the media.

The committee also agreed that even as they bring amendments, the job will be to ensure that the successor of CCK remains independent of government, commercial and political interests — a feat that might be difficult to achieve if the proposed authority will depend on the Cabinet Secretary for direction.

The MPs also said they will amend the bill so that all the nominees to the authority are vetted by the National Assembly. Safaricom also petitioned the committee to cap the fines for breach of licence conditions at Sh3 million. The bill proposes that fines should be tied to revenues of a firm for the preceding financial year up to a maximum of one per cent of the gross turnover.