Kinoti was scheduled to meet the lawmakers on Thursday morning to issue a brief on what measures his office has been undertaking to control the situation/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 26 – The Parliamentary Committee on Education has issued a seven-day ultimatum to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti to explain why he failed to appear before it for the second time to shed light on among other things the wave of school unrest and an update on the Moi Girls School rape incident.
Kinoti was scheduled to meet the lawmakers on Thursday morning to issue a brief on what measures his office has been undertaking to stem the unrest.
His presence within Parliament buildings was confirmed, at least according to the committee’s secretariat but upon the Chair of the committee Julius Melly (Tinderet) requesting for his audience, Kinoti was nowhere to be seen.
This revelation sparked outrage from members who were astonished as to where Kinoti had disappeared to.
The lawmakers were told that a last-minute letter from the DCI’s office had expressed regrets explaining that Kinoti would not show up.
“The letter should have come in good time so we could have prepared ourselves because we are members of other committees. Why would we wait for the letter when the meeting is already on, is that not impunity?” asked MP Geoffrey Odanga (Matayos).
Committee Chair Melly accused the Executive Arm of Government of frustrating the legislative role played by MPs in discharging their mandate and cautioned that such actions would not be treated lightly.
He warned of stern action against Kinoti if he fails to comply with the committee’s orders.
“The Executive needs to be serious on their part. Kinoti’s no show is a very bad behavior him being a government officer and as a committee we cannot sit and allow this to pass in the future,” he said.
Melly blasted the DCI for what he described as the casual nature in which he was handling the invitations to appear before the committee.
“Very serious matters are before this committee, matters which need answers like the issue of the allegations of students being raped and assaulted with learning disrupted for over three weeks yet we cannot get an explanation, this is just improper,” he said.
MPs Wilson Sossion (Nominated) and Omboko Milemba (Emuhaya) asked Kinoti to rise to the occasion and show up whenever called upon to respond to queries raised by legislators.
So far the number of schools that have been hit by arson attacks continue to rise while Kenyans look up to government agencies to offer a lasting solution.
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