House teams to separately probe Railway tender

By STANDARD REPORTER

KENYA: The decision by two House committees to conduct separate and independent investigations into the controversial multi-billion shilling Standard Gauge Railway tender has raised eyebrows of possible deep-rooted interests in East Africa’s largest infrastructural investment.

Efforts by Speaker Justin Muturi to find a truce on who between the Public Investment Committee (PIC) and the Departmental Committee on Transport should conduct the probe tendering of the project hit a snag, causing confusion.

The decision now means the taxpayer will pay members of the two committees allowances as they investigate the same issues, calling same officials to appear before them to respond to similar questions.

Sources say there are deeply entrenched interests that members of the two committees are keen on protecting, hence each committee’s reluctance to drop out of the probe. When the chairmen of the two committees — Eldas MP Adan Keynan (PIC) and his Starehe counterpart Maina Kamanda (Transport) emerged from the Speaker’s office after failing to agree on which committee should undertake probe on the Sh327 billion tender, they both vowed to undertake independent probes and present separate reports to the House. 

Kamanda insisted his committee would undertake its responsibility based on the powers given to it under Standing Orders 216, while Keynan’s committee will operate under Standing Orders 206.  And though both MPs insist there will be conflicts in the probe, the fact that the committees have lined up same individuals for questioning points to possible duplication of duties.

Cost implications

Questions are being raised as to why the committees are keen on independent probe, without considering the cost implications since the legislators in both teams will be drawing allowances investigating the same issue.

A member of the Transport Committee, who declined to be named due to the intrigues involved, claimed that there were deep-rooted interests that members in both committees were protecting and are fearing that the same could be compromised by either committee.

“There are serious efforts to neutralise the works of each committee through these separate probes. That is why there is this open show of interests by the committees. Surprisingly, even the Speaker appears to be making contradicting pronouncements on the probe,” said the legislator.  Muturi had appeared to favour the matter to be handled by the PIC, insisting that it was within the watchdog committee’s jurisdiction to probe matters of parastatal and government agencies.

“That was a confusing ruling given that before that he had already given the Transport committee the go-ahead to probe the matter. The Speaker had also given the Labour committee the go-ahead to investigate the Tassia Housing project, yet it is also a matter under a parastatal,” said the MP.

Nandi Hills MP Alfred Keter, who has been leading the crusade challenging the tender and claiming that Kenyans would lose money under the deal, has already accused Kamanda of taking sides in the issue and vowed not to appear before his committee. Kamanda dismissed claims that his committee was “extra keen” on probing the matter for selfish reasons, saying they only wanted to complete their work, since they had began their probe. 

“We are not keen or showing extra enthusiasm in this probe. We only want to complete our work since we had already kicked off our hearings before Parliament took a break,” said the Starehe MP.

Kamanda added: “We are also wondering as to what the urgency is on the PIC to start similar probe. Why can’t they wait for our report and if they will feel that it is not satisfactory, then they take over the matter? That is how it should be”.

The ongoing investigations is also expected to find out the true cost of the project after Keter, who punched holes on the manner the tender was awarded to the Chinese parastatal, China Roads and Bridge Corporation, sensationally claimed that the cost of the mega project had hit Sh 1.3 trillion. The Government has dismissed this figure, with both Transport Cabinet Secretary Michael Kamau and his Principal Secretary Nduva Muli placing the entire cost at Sh 327 billion. The investigations will also probe how the cost of the railway rose from the initial Sh220 billion, which was allegedly quoted by the ministry in the initial contract in July 2012, with the same now increasing by Sh107 billions.

This increase in cost would mean that Kenya will build a kilometer of the approximately 609 kilometre line at Sh315 millions, up from the Sh247 millions that Kamau had informed Parliament would be the cost.

More details on the procurement process will also be on focus, when both the Attorney General and the Director of the Public Procurement Oversight Authority (PPOA) appear before the PIC starting tommorow.

Kamau and Keter have already differed on the status of the deal between the Kenya and the China company, with the Cabinet Secretary insisting that the project was a government-to-government deal. The legislator refutes this claim.