Arrest Raila Odinga if he ignores summons, Samuel Chepkonga tells EACC

Justice and Legal Affairs Committee Chair Samuel Chepkonga says MPs will have to deal with the EACC if it doesn't effect summons on Raila Odinga. (Photo: File/Standard)

The Chairman of the National Assembly’s Justice and Legal Affairs Committee Samuel Chepkonga (Ainabkoi) Saturday said Opposition leader Raila Odinga will have to be hauled to the anti-graft commission if he ignores the summons to appear.

Speaking to The Standard, Chepkonga warned the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission not to back down from arresting the Opposition leader or else, the House committee will have to deal with the commission for “selective application of the law”.

“(Raila) ought to have appeared before the commission voluntarily. But he refused and he had to be summoned. In the unlikely event that the former PM refuses to heed the summons, the EACC will have no option but to proceed and effect the summons. They will have to ask the Inspector General to arrest him and take him to EACC to record a statement,” said Chepkonga.

The Justice and Legal Affairs Committee in the House exercises oversight over the EACC, and is currently dealing with the approval of five people to serve as commissioners in the anti-graft body. The chairman is the committee’s spokesperson as per the House rules.

“If EACC fails to do its job, then as a Parliament we will deal with them. We don’t expect an institution charged with fighting graft to apply the law selectively. All Kenyans are equal before the law. We are asking the EACC not to be intimidated,” said Chepkonga.

Raila has vowed not appear before the commission because according to him, all the information regarding the missing billions in the Sh250 billion sovereign bond (Eurobond) were with the National Treasury. He also faulted the EACC saying it is improperly constituted as it doesn’t have commissioners.

The Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich and his top officials have already recorded statements at Integrity Centre, the Nairobi headquarters of the anti-graft commission. They deny that any money was lost.

“(Raila) has been the chief complainant on this Eurobond issue and he appears to have information. He cannot be peddling that information in the media and in public. If he is genuine, he should give what he knows to the EACC,” said Chepkonga.

The Jubilee administration has been on a warpath with the Opposition leader and with respected economists in the country who have questioned the accounting methods deployed by the National Treasury to explain how the proceeds of the sovereign bond were used. The ruling Jubilee coalition dominates the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee.

EACC on Thursday evening mounted a raid at Raila’s offices at Nairobi’s Capitol Hill building, but the former Prime Minister and his lawyers declined to record a statement.

He said the government had to disclose information in full, adding that the information he had was obtained from the National Treasury and the Central Bank, and it showed a Sh140 billion hole in the accounting.