Economy

Ex-ministers lack anti-graft agency nod for envoy jobs

mumo

Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission chairman Mumo Matemu on Wednesday declined to disclose the nature of investigations facing the former ministers. PHOTO| FILE

The anti-graft agency has not cleared four former Cabinet ministers who were among the 25 nominees Parliament approved Wednesday to serve as ambassadors in various missions.

The Defence and Foreign Relations Committee noted in its report that the Ethics and Anti -Corruption Commission (EACC) confirmed that it did not have any outstanding matters or ongoing investigations against 21 of the 25 nominees.

“The commission confirmed to have matters where Ambassador Sam Ongeri, Ambassador Chirau Mwakwere, honourable Robinson Githae and Kiema Kilonzo have been adversely mentioned,” the committee said in its report.

“But the committee reckons that preliminary reports from the anti-graft agency suggest that the four are unlikely to found culpable.”

The committee, however, did not attach a letter from EACC indicating the nature of the investigations as annexure to its report.

EACC chairman Mumo Matemu on Wednesday declined to disclose the nature of investigations facing the former ministers.

“I can only comment tomorrow once Parliament has fully concluded the vetting process,” he told the Business Daily in a phone interview.

Prof Ongeri served under former President Mwai Kibaki as the minster for Education, Mr Githae was the minister for Finance while Mwakwere was the minister for Transport. Mr Kilonzo served as an assistant minister.

The committee said all the nominees presented certificates of good conduct and clearance from credit reference bureaus.

However, the committee found out that Mr Isaac Njenga, the nominee to Windhoek Namibia is still repaying his Higher Education Loans Board (Helb) loan.

The committee was required to seek information on the integrity of the nominees from EACC, clearance certificates of the nominees from the Kenya Revenue Authority, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations and Helb.

During the vetting of the nominees, the committee was faced with issues ranging from membership to political parties, retirement age for some nominated envoys, educational requirements, gender and regional balance.

The House team declared the 25 nominees fit to hold office amid reports of divisions among its members.

“Indeed, I dissented on this report on the nomination of ambassadors. We can’t rubber stamp people who even can’t speak English and are not aware what balance of trade is given the shifting foreign policy with emphasis on economic diplomacy,” said Chris Wamalwa, one of the 29 members of the committee.

Speaker Justin Muturi also highlighted discrepancies in the committee records. “The records are not well kept. If the meeting was held at 3.30pm, how then was another one held at 3.45pm on the same day? What the chair says does not hold any water on the basis of records,” he said.

On the retirement age factor that faced Prof Ongeri and Mr Mwakwere, the committee noted that the mandatory retirement age for public officers is 60 years.

The committee concluded that “a candidate above 60 years can only be appointed on temporary terms or by local agreement.”