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KACC offices/FILE

Kenya

Kibaki, Raila pick Matemu to fight graft

NAIROBI, Kenya Dec 1- President Mwai Kibaki has nominated Mumo Matemu as the chairman of the Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission (EACC).

Temporary House Speaker Gitobu Imanyara told Parliament on Thursday afternoon that Mumo’s name has been forwarded for approval by MPs following consultations with Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

The two Principals have also nominated Jane Onsongo and Irene Keino as members of the Commission.

If approved by Parliament, Matemu will take over the fight against sleaze from the defunct Kenya Anti Corruption Commission which was replaced under the new Constitution.

Matemu has worked as a Commissioner of the Kenya Revenue Authority

Onsongo is a former assistant director at KACC in charge of education while Keino is a former member of the KACC Advisory board.

There were concerns that President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga have breached the Constitution by failing to appoint members of new and revamped national anti-graft body over differences on who should head it.

There are reports that vested interests led to the differences between the leaders of the two main partners in the ruling coalition over who from the final list of three people short listed should steer EACC.

The disagreement had narrowed down to two names, but could not agree on who should be the one to lead the revamped body.

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The recruitment panel had forwarded three candidates for consideration by the principals – former chairman of the KACC Advisory Board, Erick Okong’o Omogeni, Mumo Matemu and Sarah Kilemi.

Temporary Speaker Imanyara told the House that a letter from the Head of Public Service to Parliament had initially been recalled on Monday before a second one was forwarded to the Clerk.

During the vetting, Omogeni scored the highest at 81.7 points, followed by Matemu with 78.4 points.

For the position of member, a total of 164 applicants were received out of which 12 were short listed while nine were short listed for interview for the position of chairperson.

The two principals failed to beat the deadline of presenting three names that constitute the EACC to Parliament by Thursday last week.

The Independent Ethics Anti-Corruption Commission Act stipulates that the President shall, within 14 days of receipt of the names of successful applicants forwarded, select a chairperson and members of the Commission and forward the names to Parliament for approval.

Parliament shall within 21 days after receiving the names, vet and consider, and may approve or reject any or all of them.

If the names are approved by Parliament, the Speaker forwards the names to the President for appointment. In turn, the President shall within seven days of receiving the names, make the appointments.

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