By Martin Mutua
Tempers flared during a meeting of House Business Committee (HBC) after Transport minister Amos Kimunya opposed the allocation of time to debate a report implicating him in the loss of billions of shillings.

Interestingly, Kimunya who is also the Deputy Leader of Government Business was the one chairing the meeting in the absence of the Leader of Government Business Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka.

And when the matter came up, members demanded he vacates the seat to allow someone else preside over the meeting but he declined and put up a spirited fight.

“Kimunya flatly refused to vacate the seat when the matter came up but instead engaged members in a heated exchange arguing he had the right to chair the meeting,” said a source that attended the meeting on Tuesday evening.

Last week, the powerful Public Accounts Committee tabled a damning report that implicated Kimunya in the multi-billion shillings money-printing probe.

Controversial sale
Also tied to him on the hip in this latest Sh1.8 billion De La Rue money printing payment query, just like was the case with the controversial sale of Grand Regency Hotel to the Libyan government, is Central Bank Governor Njuguna Ndung’u.

The report also wants the minister who was on the dock in Parliament recently over highly tribalised appointments at the Kenya Ports Authority board surcharged.

Yesterday, sources told The Standard that Kimunya opposed discussion of the report this week in Parliament and requested that it be shelved until after a fortnight.

The National Assembly Clerk Patrick Gichohi, who is the secretary of the committee, had advised the meeting that the report needed to be dispensed off as quickly as possible.

The sources said Gichohi told the group that according to parliamentary practice and tradition such a report should not to be delayed once tabled.

The sources further said Ikolomani MP  Boni Khalwale, who is also the PAC chairman that investigated the matter, proposed that the report be debated on Thursday.

Opposed proposal
However, Kimunya is said to have vehemently opposed the proposal, saying he required more time to consult other people in government.

Kimunya is said to have argued that he needed to consult with the speaker since his name had been adversely mentioned and also the Cabinet because during the debate there might be need for a government position. Kimunya was supported by Cabinet minister Prof Anyang’ Nyong’o on the need to consult but Khalwale told off Nyong’o on the matter, saying Kimunya had all the time when his committee was investigating the matter.

Khalwale told the meeting that when his committee investigated the scam, the Government was represented by high profile Treasury team.

He is said to have told the meeting that the Government gave evidence, which is annexed in the report and wondered what other position the Government was going to give.

The sources said after a heated exchange, Speaker Kenneth Marende, who is an ex officio member of the committee, is said to have prevailed upon the members on the matter.

The sources said Marende impressed upon the members to allow Kimunya the two weeks he was requesting for and then have the report lined up for debate. The meeting resolved to have the report debated on August 21.

However, Marende told Kimunya to report on the progress of consultations in the next HBC meeting scheduled for Tuesday next week.

Mere papers
Kimunya, who is no stranger to controversies in his Cabinet portfolio, starting with his 2003 declaration as Lands minister that title deeds were mere pieces of paper, is on a spot over claims he facilitated suspect money printing deals through which the taxpayer lost Sh1.8 billion. Parliament’s top watchdog — Public Accounts Committee (PAC) — has also recommended that the

Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission investigates Kimunya and Ndung’u over the cancellation in 2006 of a cheaper long term contract in favour of expensive single-sourced multiple interim orders to print Kenyan currency.

PAC recommended their removal from office, saying they are “not fit to hold public office” following their conduct in the deal.

PAC also called for termination of the appointment of Ndung’u and a tribunal set up by the President to investigate his conduct over the deal for the supply of 1.71 billion pieces of banknotes.
legal action

Ndung’u was, however, not the Governor when the deal was signed between CBK and De La Rue. “The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission should investigate the former Minister for Finance Amos Kimunya over his conduct in the loss of Sh1.8 billion with a view of taking appropriate legal action against him and recovering lost funds,” the report recommends.

In its conclusion, it has blamed the two for the controversial tender and recommended that appropriate legal action be taken against Kimunya and Prof Ndung’u with a view of recovering the lost funds.

“Kimunya and Ndung’u having been responsible for the loss of Sh1.8 billion and acted contrary to the provisions of Chapter Six of the Constitution of Kenya, the Public Officer Ethics Act and the Public Procurement and Disposal Act and in that respect, they are unfit to hold public office,” recommends PAC’s report tabled in Parliament.