Senior government officials summoned over railway tender

President Uhuru Kenyatta presiding over the ground breaking ceremony for the Standard Gauge Railway in Mombasa(PHOTO: Courtesy)

By ALPHONCE SHIUNDU

NAIROBI, KENYA: The National Assembly’s Committee on Transport, Public Works and Housing has summoned senior State officials to shed light on the procurement controversy around the multibillion standard gauge railway from Mombasa to Nairobi.

The committee has booked a date with Attorney General Githu Muigai, the Chief of Staff in the office of the Deputy President Marianne Kitany, the Cabinet Secretary for Treasury Henry Rotich and his principal secretary Kamau Thugge, plus the principal secretary for Infrastructure Nduva Muli.

Addressing a news conference at Nairobi’s Continental House, the chairman of the committee Maina Kamanda, said his committee will also call the Director General of Public Procurement Oversight Authority and the Managing Director of Kenya Railways to get all the details regarding the contract.

Kamanda said his committee will also summon an MP, Mr Alfred Keter (Nandi Hills) and a senator Moses Wetangula (Bungoma) to get first-hand all the allegations that they have been making regarding malfeasance in the procurement of the contract.

“We will also invite MPs who have been making allegations about money changing hands, so that they tell us what they know,” said Kamanda.

The first set of officials –the Kenya Railways boss and the Infrastructure PS—will appear before the committee next Thursday, January 16, 2014. On Friday, it will be the AG and the Deputy President’s Chief of Staff. On January 21, it will be the Public Procurement Oversight Authority and the mandarins of the National Treasury.

Kitany, the Deputy President’s aide, is a former Information Systems manager at Kenya Railways, and according to Kamanda, the committee was interested to find out what she knows.