Plan mooted to disband PAC after Ababu Namwamba survives ouster

PAC chairman Ababu Namwamba survived an ouster last week over bribery accusations.

Plans are afoot to disband the National Assembly's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) after its chairman Ababu Namwamba survived an ouster bid last week over corruption allegations.

Multiple sources in the National Assembly indicate that the option to disband the committee, normally chaired by the Opposition, is meant to salvage the integrity of the House.

The bribery allegations that have rocked PAC have cast a dark shadow on the ability of Parliament to play its principle role of over-sighting other arms of Government.

Anti-graft lobbies have strongly queried the House's moral authority to check other institutions.

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), which has in the recent past cautioned MPs against flouting Chapter Six of the Constitution on Integrity and Leadership, Monday appeared guarded over the corruption allegations.

Reached on phone for a comment, EACC Chairman Mumo Matemu only said they were not ready to discuss the matter with the media.

"When we are ready we will talk to you. As of now, we are not about to discuss this matter," said Mr Matemu, even as MPs sitting in PAC revealed that Namwamba had already sent a petition to EACC and the Director of Public Prosecutions accusing members of corruption.

National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi Monday admitted that corruption allegations had greatly put the integrity of the committee to question, terming the disclosures of bribery as grave and "wanting of a watchdog body, whose members, like the Caeser's wife must be beyond reproach".

"I have personally asked the committee members to hold a meeting and reflect on whether their conduct befits that of a person sitting in such a committee," Muturi told The Standard.

Muturi's sentiments came even as sources within the committee indicated that disgruntled members of the committee had started collecting signatures again to oust Namwamba, after he succeeded, albeit by a whisker, in thwarting his removal last week.

But as members plan the new onslaught, sources from both CORD and Jubilee indicated that there were plans to dissolve the entire membership of PAC and re-constitute it.

Muturi said replacing the committee's membership was one of the ways of redeeming its image, but quickly added that such an action could only be undertaken by the leadership of the political parties which nominated its members to the committees.

MPs' integrity

"The parties should ask themselves if the members they have put in these critical committees fit being there, but also as individual MPs, the members must question their reputation and judge if their integrity measure up to the responsibilities of such a committee," said Muturi.

He added: "That is why I have directed them to hold a meeting and retrospect as to whether they should be in this committee. The allegations against them are very serious".

The Speaker said that his hands were tied under the Standing Orders in the constitution of membership of committees, saying only political parties can act on their members.

"Instead of complaining, the leaders of these parties should act. They have a right to recall their members or withdraw any member when such a complaint is raised against them. The Speaker has absolutely no say on who should be in the committees".

Transparency International (TI) Kenya Executive Director Samuel Kimeu said the revelations in PAC was a just illustration that Parliament had failed to justify its credentials as the supreme oversight organ.

"It shows that Parliament has become a theatre of conflict of interests, where corruption undermines the institution to subvert the cause of justice. When this happen, the public interest suffers in the hands of the dominant interests of the members of such committees," said Mr Kimeu.

He said the best indications that Parliament had failed in oversight should be seen in its failure to act decisively on reports of the Auditor General, which over years have indicated unexplained expenditure of public resources, where billions are lost.

Coincidentally, it is PAC that has the first primary jurisdiction of the Auditor General's reports.

"It is not the first time that issues of corruption have surfaced from Parliament, but sadly we have never seen the institution addressing the grave vice. The accusations are mostly taken to the (Powers and) Privileges Committee, but unfortunately this is just a graveyard to bury them," added Kimeu.

He accused MPs of watering down the spirit of the constitutional chapter on integrity.

"That chapter on integrity has been re-written by legislators. Its meaning now is not as was intended when Kenyans passed the Constitution. MPs have put it very low to suit their interests. Only Wanjiku, in her residual power of leadership can force a change to this now and ensure that only persons of high integrity and morals are elected to sit in such watchdog committees," he said.