Parliamentary committee rejects John Mututho’s nomination to Nacada over pending court cases

Former Naivasha MP John Mututho. His appointment to head Nacada was recently revoked by President Uhuru Kenyatta. (Photo:File/Standard)

By Alphonce Shiundu

Nairobi, Kenya: The National Assembly’s committee of Administration and National Security has rejected the nomination of John Mututho to head the National Authority for the Campaign against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (Nacada).

The chairman of the House committee, Mr Asman Kamama (Tiaty) submitted a report to the MPs with the rejection of the former MP for the Nacada job, at least, until two cases against Mututho are concluded in the courts.

The House team rejected the former MP’s nomination to the top job of fighting alcohol and drug abuse in the country on the strength of a letter by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, which said Mututho had a pending case in court over Sh41.3 million.

“The criminal charges… arise from obtaining Sh41,371,515.15 from the Kenyatta National Hospital by falsely presenting documents that his  company had paid tax on bedside lockers and thereby deserving the refund,” said the EACC Chief Executive Halakhe Waqo in his letter to Kamama’s team.

The EACC added: “Similarly, the predecessor to the commission, the Kenya anti-corruption commission filed a suit beinf in Nairobi HCCC No 1477 of 2005 on behald of KNH claiming restitution/recovery of the said some against John Michael Njenga Mututho and Countryside Suppliers Ltd”.

The charges are still pending in court.

“Whereas the matters are pending before the court, the allegations touch on the personal integrity of the candidate and are likely to erode public confidence in the integrity of his office,” Waqo concluded in his letter to the MPs.

Mututho had told the committee that he hoped the cases will be concluded today, November 20.

Best suited for the job

The committee in its report said the “cases had taken too long” and asked the Judiciary and the Prosecution to “expeditiously” conclude the case. The committee asked President Kenyatta to freeze the process until the cases are concluded.

“The committee is of the view that Mr Mututho is best suited for the Nacada job, save for the criminal charges facing him, and recommends that the appointing authority resubmits his name for reappointment once he is cleared by the courts,” said Kamama’s team in its report.

Mututho was cleared by the Kenya Revenue Authority and the Higher Education Loans Board, but there are Kenyans who submitted memoranda to have him rejected on the basis that the process that led to Mututho’s nomination was not transparent.

Under the Nacada Act, the chairperson of the board, in this case Mututho, has to be appointed by the President with the approval of the National Assembly. The chairperson has to be a person with experience in public affairs either in judicial service, public service or the private or voluntary sector.

There are also those who said Mututho was not qualified as per the Act. They said his degrees in Range Management and Agriculture, and Masters in Environment Economics did not make him a suitable candidate.

Mututho is a former MP for Naivasha Constituency. He served in the Tenth Parliament as the chairperson of the Agriculture Committee. He was the architect of the Alcoholic Drinks Control Act which was eponymously named Mututho laws.

Others attacked Mututho for his stance that miraa was not a drug.

“The miraa question has shown the character of John Mututho during his illegal short period at Nacada, he played dangerous politics by declaring that miraa was not a drug (when he appeared) before a parliamentary committee,” read a memo submitted to Kamama’s team by Maisha Huru, a lobby.

“We believe that the ill-advised statement was his personal opinion made to please a section of legislators from a certain region,” Maisha Huru added.

  Mututho had told the committee that if confirmed for the Nacada top job, he would “ensure that structures, regulations, and laws that Parliament had passed would be adhered to”.