Ruaraka: Senators to decide Matiang’i fate

Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matinag’i at a past event. [File, Standard]

The fate of Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matinag’i and Education Principal Secretary Kipsang Belio hang in the balance as the Senate prepares to vote on a decision that will determine whether the two should be held personally liable for a land scandal.

Already, a Senate committee has indicted Dr Matiang’i and Dr Belio over the acquisition of the Sh3.3 billion Ruaraka land by the government.

In their report, Senate Committee on County Public Accounts and Investments gave the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Haji and Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) three months to investigate the two.

Although the Moses Kajwang-led committee finished its report in August, the Senate debated it on Thursday and deferred the vote to this week.

Public land

The committee seeks to have the duo probed and, if found culpable, prosecuted for violating a report by a Ministry of Education department that recommended that the land where Ruaraka High and Drive-in schools stand was public and the claimant should not have been paid for it.

“If found culpable be prosecuted for occasioning loss of Sh1.5 billion in line with Article 266 (5) of the Constitution for ignoring the recommendations of a report of Quality Assurance and Standards Assessment...,” the report by the committee chaired by Kajwang, the Homa Bay Senator, recommends.

The report by the Quality Assurance and Standards Task Force was submitted to Matiang’i and Kipsang on February 3, 2017 — 11 months before the duo approved payment of Sh1.5 billion to city businessman Francis Mburu.

This was part of Sh3.2 billion the government had agreed to pay before the scandal broke out. Senate committee wants DPP, EACC and DCI given three months to act on the recommendations.

The adoption by the senate will be a dent on the careers of the two senior government officials.

According to the report, the land was surrendered for public use by Drive-In Estate, a sister company to Afrison Import Export Limited, as mandatory condition for subdivision of the 96-acre piece of land.

The scheduled vote has however elicited mixed reactions from a section of MPs who feel the probe should be handled by Parliament.

The legislators also question the veracity of the report.

In a statement signed by their Chairman Joash Nyamoko (North Mugirango), the legislators maintained that Senate was overstepping its mandate by involving themselves in the matter they said fell within the mandate of the National Assembly.

The MPs accused the Senate leadership of failing to investigate the alleged soliciting of bribes by the Kajwang committee.

“The committee was accused of soliciting Sh100 million bribe from the embattled owner of the disputed land Francis Mburu, but Deputy Speaker Kindiki Kithure assumed the case on a technicality,” Nyamoko said.

Conflicting reports

The leaders also pointed out the conflicting reports by the two legislative bodies as a lead into understanding the level of witchhunt the Senate was reportedly propagating.

“The Parliamentary Departmental Committee on Land exonerated the CS and Ministry of Education against any wrong doing and this report by Senate reveals some form of witchhunt,” Nakuru West MP Samuel Arama said.

The report also wants top National Land Commission (NLC) officials probed for their role that led to the payment of the taxpayers’ money.