When PM Raila Odinga raised the issue of illegal expenditures by the office of the President in the transitional period following the disputed 2013 elections, Jubilee leaders dismissed him as someone seeking to destabilize the government of President Uhuru in a bid to ‘take power through the back door’.
The regime, with reputation badly damaged, took quick steps to sanitize itself of the allegations using all the offices that deal with public expenditure. This is where Ababu Namwamba led PAC came to embroil itself in the scandal that is almost consuming the erudite Budalangi lawmaker.
Raila, in August 2014, was explaining why there existed a biting cash crunch which followed the 2013 general election.
Odinga explained then that OP had gone in a ‘looting spree’ as they panicked in the possibility of losing power.
“This is theft of the highest order. We always suspected that the Jubilee coalition looted public coffers to fund its campaign during the last General Election. Our fears have now been confirmed,†he said.
“We have information that the amount stolen could be Sh15 billion. It is good that the Auditor-General has obtained documents about the theft of Sh8.3 billion,†he added.
These monies are at the centre of the current scandal, where the then Internal Security PS Mutea Iringo, now PS at Defence Ministry, is adversely mentioned as having paid millions in bribe to have his name cleared from the PAC report.
Ababu mainstains the failure to clear Iringo’s name is what has led to his current woes. A letter circulating online, authored by the MP to House Speaker Justin Muturi, reads in part:
“…I have reliably gathered that even as a majority of us in the Committee worked overtime to clear the 3-year backlog of audited accounts, some members of the Committee were apparently busy engaging persons under investigation with the motive of soliciting for and/or receiving favours to improperly influence findings of the Committee.
I have it on record that Defence PS, Mr. Mutea Iringo, met four members of the Committee at Silver Springs Hotel for this purpose. They were Hon Omondi Anyanga, Hon James Bett, Hon Abbas Ahmed and Hon Samuel Arama. At the meeting, it was agreed that Mr. Iringo would provide money and facilitate business opportunities at the Department of Defence (DoD).
At least Kshs 1.5 million is confirmed to have been collected in cash from Mr. Iringo by Hon Anyanga, who shared with the members named hereinabove, together with Hon Kareke Mbiuki and Hon Cecily Mbarire. I was to be strictly kept in the dark, because I am not “flexibleâ€.
The assignment for these members was to ensure that anything adverse to Mr. Iringo would be expunged from the Committee’s final report. This, however, was not achieved. Mr. Iringo is reportedly upset that he paid for a service not rendered, a fact that has left the involved members quite shaken, and upset with me for firmly protecting the integrity of the report, which returned a damning verdict on the PSs in office when the questionable Kshs 2.9 billion expenditure was undertaken.
A recorded audio confession in my possession, and phone records of the named members, especially Hon Bett and Hon Anyanga, easily and unequivocally confirm the liaison between Mr. Iringo and the named members. The findings and recommendations in the final report tabled in the House in December, 2014 by myself on behalf of the Committee confirm that this scheme failed, to the chagrin of the plotters…”
The full contents of the letter is published elsewhere on this forum.
As this scandal unfolds, Kenyans are watching what shall be its end. However, Odinga has been vindicated!
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