MP Gumbo-led Public Accounts Committee owes Kenyans an apology

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) should apologise to Kenyans for wasting their time and money with the National Youth Service (NYS) scandal probe.

From the onset, PAC’s conduct as it carried out the probe was questionable with cases of deliberate witch-hunt and bribery groping the committee.

The infighting within the committee played out during the sessions with some members appearing to pursue a deliberate line of questioning, not to get the truth, but to force our answers that would validate their assumption that former Devolution Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru stole money from the NYS.

In doing so, the Public Accounts Committee missed the target which was to unearth the truth about NYS scandal, the actual amount that was lost and the individuals responsible.

PAC was so clouded in political supremacy battle and sycophancy that they ended up creating a report that leaves Kenyans with more questions than answers.

In fact Kenyans are more confused now about the NYS saga than they were when it was first made public in 2015.

Watching the probe, one could tell that members from the Opposition coalition CORD (now NASA) were under instructions to point all guns to one person – Anne Waiguru.

A clear demonstration of how uninterested the committee was in the facts, was when they could not notice that they were interviewing a fake John Kago!

You would expect that the people mandated to enact legislation and deliberate on and resolve issues that are of concern to the people (according to Article 95 of the Constitution) would be critical of the process and do a thorough background check on whoever was appearing before them. But no!

It is for this reason that the report, released by PAC last week, should be disregarded.

Anyone who read newspapers or watched TV when the NYS scandal became public would have easily drafted that report based on what was in the media; that is why we expected PAC to do better, and give us the truth and not speculations.

Public Accounts Committee failed thoroughly in its mandate to get to the bottom of the NYS scandal, as evidenced by the recommendations in their report.

Firstly, after trashing the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) investigations which exonerated Waiguru, the committee has turned to the same anti-graft commission to carry out fresh investigations into the scandal.

What is it that PAC expects EACC to find on Waiguru that they did not find the first time, even after storming her house? Also, if PAC, with all the machinery at its disposal, could not find a shred of evidence that Waiguru is linked to the scandal, how can EACC?

It seems, according to PAC, the only way to make their report 'relevant' was to include Waiguru; and instead of absolving her of any wrongdoing, having not found any evidence, they decided to call for a lifestyle audit on her, which is utterly preposterous and meaningless.

Secondly, how come the name of Deputy President William Ruto’s aide Farouk Kibet is conspicuously missing from the report, yet he admitted to having received Ksh1.5 million from Josephine Kabura, a key suspect in the loss of approximately Ksh1.8 billion.

What is even more surprising is the recommendation that Elgeyo Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen be charged over his dealings with Ben Gethi, another key suspect in the saga.

Gethi’s firm, Out of The box solutions is reported to have paid Murkomen’s law firm Sing’oei, Murkomen & Sigei Advocates Ksh15 million for services rendered.

ODM director of elections and Suna East MP Junet Mohamed was also shaded from the report even though his firm Zeigham enterprises Ltd, and his sister’s firm Fahaza Ltd received Sh21.8 million and 51.8 million respectively from the NYS.

So how different is Murkomen’s alleged crime from that of Kibet and Junet?

Same crime, different verdict.

The height of absurdity is evidenced by PAC’s recommendation that Central Bank Governor Patrick Njoroge be investigated for alleged failing to stop the movement of fraudulently acquired money from one bank to the other!

Some members of PAC have also been linked to corruption, with reports indicating that they were bribed Ksh40 million to omit some names.

From the happenings at the committee, it will take a miracle for PAC, as currently constituted, to win over the trust and confidence of Kenyans.

The best thing to do is to disband it and form a fresh team that cannot be distracted by political dissension and selfish interests.