MPs accused of sleeping on the job in Sh10b error

By Standard Team

A harsh indictment was passed on MPs for endorsing Budget estimates they knew had glaring errors.

This follows revelations that the legislators passed the estimates even after the errors had been detected.

It also emerged that Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta declined to commit himself that the figures he presented in the Supplementary Appropriations Bill were consistent with revised ones.

MPs have been accused of sleeping on the job, and abetting corruption by failing to check the Executive.

Former MPs and observers demanded that MPs and Uhuru be held responsible for the mistakes presented in Parliament twice and approved.

Former Kabete MP Paul Muite challenged Uhuru and Education Minister Sam Ongeri to table the list of teachers who were owed Sh8 billion, their details and the allowances.

Ghost teachers?

"We demand proof and identity of individual teachers, and the period through which the arrears may have been accrued. Were they genuine or ghost teachers being used as a conduit?" he asked.

Budget Committee Chairman Martin Ogindo detected mistakes, but was overruled by House Speaker Kenneth Marende as he demanded Uhuru’s commitment.

"We doubted the accuracy of the figures, but we were denied adequate time to raise issues related to mistakes," Mr Ogindo told The Standard.

The minister reportedly assured MPs that no stone would be left unturned and the error would not impact negatively on the economy.

Yesterday, former Parliamentary Public Investments Committee Chairman Justin Muturi accused MPs of sleeping on the job.

"Nobody looked at the figures. Only one MP stood to protest against the issues. Where were the others? It is their duty to read the estimates," he said.

Lawyer PLO Lumumba said: "The reason we elect MPs is to be watchdogs. We pay them handsomely to scrutinise budgets. But they are a disgrace."

On Uhuru, he added: "He should have first combed the figures with his technocrats before presenting them to the House."

He said Uhuru should resign over the blunder in the Budget.

But Fisheries Minister Paul Otuoma defended Uhuru, arguing that the errors should be shouldered collectively by MPs who passed the estimates.

"I do not think the minister was out to defraud the public," he said.