NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 16 – The circus over the nomination of the Controller of Budget continued on Wednesday with five members of the Parliamentary Finance Committee disowning a report tabled in Parliament that rejected nominee William Kirwa.
Led by vice-chairman Philip Kaloki, the legislators claimed that the committee never sanctioned the final report that was tabled in the House.
Mr Kaloki said the tabled report was misleading since the committee had endorsed the nomination and agreed to seek more time to vet Mr Kirwa’s suitability.
“We will be tabling a minority report,” Prof Kaloki said. “The observations and recommendations are not a faithful record of the deliberations of the committee because we had reached the decision that there was due consultations between the President and the Prime Minister and that the nomination process was in accordance of the Constitution,” he added.
Asked why they had failed to contest the report on the floor of the House when chairman Chris Okemo tabled it, committee member Lenny Kivuti said they had not seen the report so they could not contest it.
“The final document was not circulated that is why we had to meet now and bring this out,” said Mr Kivuti.
The two were joined by MPs Lukas Chepkitony, Sammy Mwaita and Nelson Gaichuhie. “I personally made a recommendation and we all agreed and I have not found it in the report,” Mr Chepkitony said.
However in a quick rejoinder, two ODM MPs backed the tabled report and asserted it was endorsed unanimously.
Jakoyo Midiwo and Nkoidila Ole Lankas disputed the claims of the five and said it was representing a minority group.
“It is Mr Kaloki who proposed the Motion to adopt the report yesterday (Tuesday),” Mr Midiwo said.
He claimed that there was “a change of heart” among the group after a secret meeting at the home of a top PNU leader on Tuesday night.
He claimed the group of five was bent on derailing the implementation of the Constitution.
“This is the (anti) Ocampo brigade plus the water melons (those who opposed the Constitution) trying to steal the dream of Kenyans and we are not going to let it happen,” he stated.
Mr Lankas said: “This report was distributed to all of us.”
In the meantime Chief Justice Evan Gicheru has appointed three judges to hear a petition filed by a group of women rights organisation to hear the legality of the nominees to the offices of Chief Justice, Attorney General and Director of Public Prosecutions.
The judges will now sit on Monday and Tuesday to determine whether President Kibaki acted constitutionally when he nominated Justice Alnashir Visram as Chief Justice, Githu Muigai as AG and Kioko Kilukumi to be the DPP.
Two weeks ago, High Court judge Daniel Musinga declared that the nominations were unconstitutional as they didn’t consider gender balance and lack of proper consultations between President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
In their petition, the applicants claimed that the nominations were done without advertisement, and members of the public who ought to have participated, were kept in the dark.
They argued that under Article 10(2) (a) guarantees the Rule of Law as one of the National Values and Principles that bind all state officers, public officers and all persons whenever they apply or interpret the Constitution and in line with these provisions, they had the right to challenge the nominations.
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