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MPs want Sh791mn suspect Kabura arrested

This is after she failed to show up twice despite being summoned by the committee which is probing the saga/FILE

This is after she failed to show up twice despite being summoned by the committee which is probing the saga/FILE

NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 25 – The National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Tuesday requested the Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet to arrest Josephine Kabura, one of the suspects in the Sh791 million National Youth Service fraud and present her before the committee by the end of the week.

This is after she failed to show up twice despite being summoned by the committee which is probing the saga.

PAC Chairman Nicholas Gumbo said Kabura cannot be accorded another excuse considering that it is the third time she was making such a request without valid reasons.

“Kabura is a key suspect in this matter and her input is of utmost importance to this committee as it prepares a report in the scandal and therefore cannot be allowed to skip the summons any longer,” Gumbo said in response to the letter by Kabura.

He had earlier stated that her lawyers had written to the committee claiming that they are unable to trace Kabura.

“We have got a letter from Abwoutha and Omino advocates authored by lawyer F.I. Omino saying that he is unable to trace his client to have her appear before this committee,” Gumbo said.

Kabura’s lawyer claimed that he would be meeting his client in court on November 7 where her money laundering case is expected to be heard for four consecutive days.

MPs Timothy Bosire Kitutu (Masaba) and Abdikadir Aden (Balambala) said Kabura and her legal team had disrespected and shown contempt to the House watchdog committee.

“We have summoned very big people in government. Why would Ms Kabura, who is an ordinary citizen, conduct herself with impunity by ignoring our three invitations? It appears that she has discretion to appear in court and not Parliament,” Kitutu posed.

“I suggest that we issue summonses and write to the Inspector General to search and arrest Ms Kabura and present her before PAC within the next 24 Hours,” the Balambala MP said.

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Kabura was expected to appear at 10am to explain her role on the transactions involving companies associated with her.

A special audit revealed in June that Kenyans lost more than Sh1.8 billion in the scandal.

Kabura was allegedly the biggest beneficiary; the report by the Auditor General Edward Ouko unearthed how she received Sh1.29 billion on account of 11 businesses.

Ouko conducted a special audit of the NYS following revelations of the scam that saw former Devolution Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru resign at the height of the scam.

The three companies associated with Kabura – Form Homes Builders, Reinforced Concrete Technologies and Roof and All Trading – are said to have received the money from the NYS.

Kabura placed Waiguru at the centre of the scandal in a 16-page affidavit filed in court.

Kabura says that prior to the Sh791 million contract, Waiguru had assisted her to secure other contracts, with about 30 LPOs at NYS, with a value in excess of Sh400 million.

She described how she took Sh10 million to Waiguru’s house in Runda on August 26, 2015 which she was later told would be used “to clean up her image.”

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