John Mututho in trouble over Sh41m case

By Ally Jamah

Nairobi, Kenya: Anti-alcohol crusader John Mututho ran into trouble during his vetting by a committee of Parliament after it emerged he has a Sh41 million criminal case against him pending in court.

Mr Mututho, who is seeking to be chairperson of the government agency that fights alcohol and drug abuse, admitted before the MPs that he faces a criminal charge.

This is with regard to supply of goods to Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) in 1998 that were allegedly not delivered.

Rongo MP Dalmas Otieno expressed concern that it would be problematic for the committee to approve his appointment before his innocence is proved in court, but Mututho insisted that he committed no wrong.

“The law is very clear that public officers cannot be in office when they are still facing criminal charges. They have to wait to be cleared first. We wouldn’t want to approve your appointment only for it to be challenged by someone in court,” said Otieno.

Mututho claimed that KNH had no issues with him regarding the matter, saying he supplied all the goods he was supposed to.

He, however, said he had issues with payment of duty on the goods.

At some point, Mututho requested that the committee goes into a private session to discuss the issue further, away from the media and public.

Personal challenge

He assured the MPs that the case would not impede his work at the National Authority for Campaign Against Alcohol and Drugs Abuse (Nacada).

Mututho said he would treat it as a “personal challenge”, using a similar phrase used by President Uhuru Kenyatta with regard to the case facing him at the International Criminal Court.

Mututho was also questioned about an alleged deal regarding land he had acquired from the Cotton Board of Kenya, with the legislators questioning whether it was regular.

But Mututho denied that there was any shady deal since the piece of land had been legally put up for auction by the Cooperative Bank over alleged unpaid debts of the parastatal. The matter is also pending before court after CBK opposed the sale.