Parliament team will investigate every aspect of the Cabinet nominees’ lives

President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy William Ruto ask Anne Waiguru to address the nation after she was announced Devolution and Planning Cabinet Secretary at State House, Nairobi on April 25. PHOTO/FILE  NATION

By ISAAC ONGIRI iongiri@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Wednesday, May 8  2013 

 

 

 

 

In Summary

How nominees will be quizzed

1. President submits the Cabinet nominees list to National Assembly
2. Committee on Appointments scrutinizes the names, tables report in the House
3. MPs debate the report, endorses all or rejects some names
4. If full list is endorsed, it is submitted to President for appointment

Cabinet Secretaries nominated by President Uhuru Kenyatta will have their past dug up in during public vetting by MPs starting Thursday.

The Committee on Appointments chaired by House Speaker Justin Muturi was last night weeding out unqualified material sent by the public before vetting starts this morning.

National Assembly Clerk Justin Bundi yesterday confirmed his office had received piles of documents containing affidavits questioning the integrity of some of the 16 nominees.

Sources said evidence send to Parliament focused on the past records of some three nominees and would form the subject of the vetting process.

The queries accompanied by witness affidavits seek to expose their previous involvement in irregular tender deals, among other questionable integrity issues.

But Mr Bundi said the committee was last evening getting ready to ventilate on the input by the public, warning that information deemed to be worthless and meant to unnecessarily injure the reputation of the nominees would be expunged.

“We demanded that the public must swear affidavits to support their evidence and most of them have done so. Those they are accusing will also be given time to swear responding affidavits to ensure this process is not used to disadvantage anyone,” said Mr Bundi.

Mr Bundi said five nominees — Ms Anne Wainguru (Devolution), Raychelle Omamo (Defence), Amina Mohammed Mohammed (Foreign Affairs), Jacob Kaimenyi (Education, Science and Technology) and Mr Henry Rotich (National Treasury) — have a date with the MPs today. Though Cord had warned it would boycott committee meetings, it was yet to submit its letter to the clerk.
“I have not seen Cord’s withdrawal letter and yesterday the meeting went on very well,” Mr Bundi said.

Leader of Minority Francis Nyenze, who is also MP for Kitui West, yesterday declined to say whether his coalition’s MPs would participate.

The cabinet nominees would be required to list their wealth, sources and dates they acquired it.

They will also be required to reveal sources of resources they expect to get from deferred income and other future benefits that may accrue from incomplete contracts or previous businesses.

And apart from accurately revealing their net worth, the nominees’ previous compliance or commitment to tax obligations would also be scrutinised.

The vetting questionnaire also requires them to disclose their previous and current political activities and affiliations.