MPs furious with spy chief, protest to Speaker

NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 12 – The Parliamentary Committee on Defence and Foreign Relations says it will report National Security Intelligence Services (NSIS) Director General Michael Gichangi to the Speaker of the National Assembly after he failed yet again to honour committee summonses.

Committee chairman Adan Keynan said Gichangi had shown contempt to MPs after snubbing the House team for the third time.

“We have not got any communication. This committee has resolved that the issue will be before the Speaker soonest,” Keynan said.

Gichangi had initially been summoned to appear before the committee on March 26, but he didn’t show up and instead sent a letter explaining his absence.

On March 27, the NSIS boss wrote another letter saying he was consulting his legal team before making an appearance.

Keynan however issued fresh summonses for the spy chief to appear on Thursday, which he again failed to honour.

Failure to honour summonses by Parliament may result in a 12-month prison term, a fine of Sh2,000 or both.

The committee wants Gichangi’s assistance in their investigations on the authenticity of documents tabled in the House three weeks ago by Yatta MP Charles Kilonzo and Dujis MP Aden Duale which allege that the UK government was influencing the International Criminal Court (ICC) process to have President Kibaki indicted over the 2008 post election violence once he leaves office.

The House team was also supposed to hear from Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister Eugene Wamalwa who also wrote to the committee stating that he was not available.

In a letter read by Keynan, Wamalwa said he was attending a funeral committee meeting for Mary Onyango who was at the time of her death, the vice-chairperson of the National Cohesion and Integration Commission. She is due to be laid to buried in Ugenya on Friday.

The committee says the Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister who is only two weeks old in the office, is expected to give his side of the story, since they believe ICC issues fall under his docket.

But last week, Wamalwa said that his ministry was not charged with handling matters relating to the International Criminal Court.

Wamalwa said that ICC matters are officially handled by the Ministry of Internal Security and the office of the Attorney General.

The minister who is a close ally of Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto – who are facing charges at the ICC – said he would not interfere with the cases and that the law must be allowed to take its course.

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