Leading National Youth Service (NYS) scam suspect Josephine Kabura fumbled through her testimony before the parliamentary committee yesterday.
Looking dazed in grey suit and with a burly lawyer by her side, Kabura stoically braved jeers and streams of questions from overzealous members of parliament who put her on the spot over the affidavit she presented to link Waiguru on the NYC scandal.
Despite looking overly intimidated by the cameras and the MPs, Kabura maintained her calm all through the grilling and occasional dress-down from fire-spitting chair of the session, Nicholas Gumbo.
She avoided discussing former Devolution CS Anne Waiguru at all costs and instead referred the MPs to her written affidavit.
Most of the MPs expressed their frustration with Kabura's curt responses saying she appeared "coached" and "unhelpful" to the committee.
The session came to an abrupt end several times as Gumbo demanded for more explanations from her.
She failed to mention names of the quarry owners she worked with, even though she claims she paid millions of shillings for quarry materials meant for the construction of roads mentioned in the Waiguru project.
Kabura was also unable to produce receipts for the millions of payments she claimed to have made to the quarry owners.
She said there were no receipts involved.
She said she neither owned the quarries nor paid for the transportation of the materials which was done by NYS trucks.
"I can't recall any of the people at the quarry," she said.
Her explanation of how she ferried the Sh56 million, part of the money she used to pay the quarry owners, seemed to throw the committee into confusion.
"I was using a bag, one bag at a go," she said.
When Gumbo pressed her to elaborate how she was able to carry the large amount of money in a bag, Kabura said she used a bag that could fit the amount of money she was carrying at a particular time.
She could not remember the tens of transactions- involving millions of shillings- that she made to various individuals and companies.
Her lawyer, a Mr. Omino was not spared the committees' wrath when he attempted to come to her aid.
"I am going to throw you out Mr. Omino. She has been lying to us all along and you are sitting there. How have you helped?" said Gumbo.
Asked how much tax she paid for the over Sh1.6 billion worth of business she did with government in a span of a year, she blankly stared at her interlocutor and admitted that she did not pay any.
Her choice of names for her 20 sole-proprietorships puzzled the MPs as well.
They included: Ambition Learning, Inspired Trading, Smart Trading, Critical Mass Electricals, Essential Prodigy Trading, Mindful Learning, Bright-Thinking Traders, just to mention but a few...
In the history of parliamentary appearances, Josephine Kabura's appearance yesterday was a record of sorts.
It is probably the only appearance where grave categorical conclusions on a witness were arrived on the floor and without much ado and without a whiff of protest from the witness.
"You swindled Kenyans to the tune of Sh1.6 billion. I can also tell you that, if you think you are helping the people you are protecting, you will be hanged out there to dry on your own," said Gumbo.
It ended with MPs reading three Bible verses to their witness.
Mathews Chapter 6:19 advising Kabura where to store her riches, Proverbs 19: 9 cautioning Kabura against false testimony. Gumbo was looking out to read John 8:32 on truth setting Kabura free but he couldn't place his finger on the verse by the time he wound up the session.
