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MPs Keter, Tiren seek Uhuru’s intervention in maize scandal

Nandi Hills MP Alfred Keter and Moiben MP Silas Tiren said the President’s intervention will give Kenyans hope that all is not lost/FILE

NAIROBI, Kenya May 24 – Two Jubilee Coalition MPs from the North Rift are now pleading with President Uhuru Kenyatta to intervene and crack the whip on corrupt government officers even as public confidence on the war against graft seems to be waning.

This coming as fresh details continued to emerge on Thursday showing that billions in public funds were misappropriated through well choreographed schemes at the National Youth Service and National Cereals and Produce Board.

Nandi Hills MP Alfred Keter and Moiben MP Silas Tiren said the President’s intervention will give Kenyans hope that all is not lost.

“Kenyatta may mean well but his Cabinet is made up of crooks who should be at Kamiti Maximum Prison. My only hope is Kenyatta who is the only clean man”

They said the matter should not be politicized or tribalised and called on all government officials mentioned so far to step aside to pave way for investigations.

“We are not going to let this go, we are saying if you responsible in a particular institution if there is a problem in that institution you should face the music. Whether you resign, whether you run away, whether you go and run under the bed, everybody must face the music and I am not leaving the ministry out as well,” he said as he questioned the ‘timely decision’ by the NCPB Boss to resign over the weekend before things came to the fore.

“On the maize scandal, the people who are managing NCPB are form Kalenjin, the farmers who lost are my tribe, the traders who were used are Kalenjin nation, the big fish are from the Kalenjin, we must say this as they are, let no one say his/her tribe is being targeted, he told a news conference at Parliament Buildings.

Keter cast doubt over Parliament’s capability to carry out is oversight role despite using more than Sh30 billion on the function.

“This Parliament is not capable of over sighting institutions. It was long compromised by the Executive and instead if solving problems we are part of the problem.”

The Nandi Hill MP reiterated his claims that billions of taxpayers’ money had been lost despite assurances from the Ministry that the public had not suffered any loss.

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“I think we should turn the situations in this country and invite Hollywood, so that they can process this in terms of movies, this can only happen in a cinema. It is not real in another country. I am sure many other countries are watching us and wondering, you mean someone cannot even tender, does not even know what they are supposed to supply and still gets a pay of Sh60million,” he said.

The vocal MP further rubbished a list of 18 traders that Crop Development Production Principal Secretary Richard Lesiyampe had submitted to the Public Accounts Committee; which he claimed was a ploy by the big fish who hold high ranking positions in government and in the political circles to try and cover the trail.

The traders who were paid Sh740 million for supplying the NCPB with 10,000 bags of maize yet they were not registered farmers.

At least five lawmakers and an aide to a top politician, senior government officials and businessmen were among 30 individuals investigated in connection with a multi-billion shilling scandal at the National Cereals and Produce Board.

Keter and Tiren said if no action is taken, they will move to invite the Central Bank of Kenya through its Money Laundering Department to trace and recover the money on behalf of Kenya.

The MPs said it was immoral and wrong that government officials colluded with a handful of suppliers to swindle huge sums of money from the government owned institution.

He promised to release a detailed report on Tuesday once an ongoing audit of the beneficiaries was completed.

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