Mutunga asked to resign over Judiciary deals worth Sh645m
Three MPs have asked Chief Justice Willy Mutunga to resign over an audit report that accused the Judiciary of suspect deals worth Sh645 million.
They also urged Parliament to reconvene and start a probe. The Jubilee coalition members said Dr Mutunga, who chairs the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) and is the president of the Supreme Court, “must explain how public money was lost under his watch.”
Ndung’u Gethenji (Tetu), Mithika Linturi (Igembe South) and Asman Kamama (Tiaty) demanded that the National Assembly be reconvened to debate the special audit report on the JSC and the Judiciary.
The report by the Office of the Auditor-General accuses the Judiciary of making payments for goods and services in advance contrary to the law, over payment of sitting allowances and opening bank accounts without the necessary approval of the Treasury.
“How can one person constitute a meeting and draw allowances yet the JSC Act sets the quorum at a minimum of six commissioners? As the head of the JSC and president of Supreme Court, Dr Mutunga should explain this to Kenyans,” said Mr Gethenji.
Allowances
Similar comments were echoed by Mr Kamama, who chairs the committee on Administration and National Security: “He must come out and address the auditor’s report. He should state how a quorum of one person can qualify for an allowance to be paid.”
The report alleges that former Judiciary chief registrar Gladys Boss Shollei presided over the opening of bank accounts — some of which she was a signatory to — without the necessary approval of the Treasury. Mrs Shollei was last year sacked by the JSC.
As the accounting officer, she is also accused of authorising payment for goods and services in advance and the payment of Sh262 million without proper authorisation and documentation.
The JSC is alleged to have demanded that people who are not members of the commission be paid Sh80,000 as sitting allowances yet they were entitled to Sh10,000.
Some Sh9.8 million was paid out in this manner while Sh1.6 million was paid in allowances for meetings that had not been legally constituted, the report states.
The audit report was commissioned when the fighting between Mrs Shollei and her former employer went public.
