From: Ouko joachim omolo
The News Dispatch with Omolo Beste in images
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17, 2013
If it is true that former Water Minister Charity Ngilu, former Matuga MP Chirau Ali Mwakwere and former Mvita MP Najib Balala are not in the list of Cabinet Secretaries, which will be unveiled by President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy William Ruto any time from now, then Uhuru will do Kenyans proud.
This is given that all these people have been rejected by their electorates as unfit to govern. Credible sources from the Office of the President in Nairobi say Balala, Mwakwere and Ngilu are not in the list of cabinet secretaries.
Although Balala, Mwakwere and Ngilu lost their respective seats and they are trying to persuade the Jubilee government to appoint them in these positions since they had sacrificed their political ambitions on behalf of the Jubilee Government, Kiambu governor William Kabogo is rumored to be behind this plan.
Rumor has it that he has asked President Uhuru Kenyatta not to appoint losers in the March 4 elections or sitting MPs to the Cabinet. Kabogo claims those who lost in the March 4 election are ‘rejects’ of the people’ and asked Uhuru to name only those who merit appointment to sit in the new government.
Kabogo said he was against the appointment of Former Environment minister Chirau Ali Mwakwere, Water minister Charity Ngilu, former Gender minister Naomi Shaban and former Tourism minister Najib Balala.
Kabogo who was addressing a funds drive meeting for the Presbyterian Church of East Africa in Thika town where he gave Sh100, 000 for the construction of the church asked Uhuru and Deputy President William Ruto not to choose leaders from current MPs, governors or senators and instead get new faces who are professionals in various fields.
He told MPs to stop ‘nagging’ Uhuru for cabinet seats saying the country is more important than individuals.
Some of the names been considered for cabinet appointment include, Nancy Gitau, an adviser to president Kibaki, who has played a role in Uhuru’s campaign. She is believed to be the front runner to succeed Francis Kimemia as the head of civil service and secretary to the cabinet.
While Kenyatta’s personal assistant Jomo Gecaga is believed to be in line to take up the role of the president’s private secretary because he has been on Uhuru’s side virtually every time, including during his Hague trips, rumors has it that Uhuru may also consider Titus Naikuni of Kenya Airways, Julius Kipng’etich of Equity, formerly KWS, and Martin Oduor of KCB.
Again, while speculation is rife that Njeru Githae will keep his finance docket, after Uhuru handed over Jubilee’s manifesto to him, with instruction that he begins implementing it immediately, Uhuru may also consider former Rangwe MP Shem Ochuodho and Raphael Tuju, a wish that may be sharply rejected by Uhuru’s royalists.
Those tipped to be in the next government include:
1. Head of Civil Service and Secretary to the Cabinet- Nancy Gitau
2. Presidential Press Service – Munyori Buku
3. Government spokesman –Muthui Kariuki
4. Jamleck Kamau- Cabinet Secretary
5. Njeru Githae – Cabinet Secretary – Treasury
6. Charles Keter – Cabinet Secretary
7. Aden Duale – Cabinet Secretary
8. Charity Ngilu – Cabinet Secretary
9. Najib Balala – Cabinet Secretary
10. Chirau Ali Mwakwere – Cabinet Secretary
11. Joshua Kuttuny – Cabinet Secretary
12. Raphael Tuju- Cabinet Secretary
13. Eugene Wamalwa – Cabinet Secretary.
14. Ole Metito – Cabinet Secretary.
15. Beth Mugo – Cabinet Secretary.
This list may also bring sharp rejection from Ruto’s royalists given that Ruto and Uhuru agreed on 50/50 basis. Ruto royalists may argue that people like Ochuodho, Tuju, Oduor and Naikuni cannot fit on this list because they never fought for Jubilee success.
The list will also be determined by the National Intelligence Service (NIS) report. The NIS has finished vetting the people that President Uhuru Kenyatta wants to name to his Cabinet.
If approved, the names will now be sent to the Speaker of the National Assembly, Justin Muturi, as per the constitution. He will then pass them to the MPs on the parliamentary Vetting Committee once it is constituted in the next few days.
Although both the committee and Parliament itself have the power to reject any nominees and the president can only formally appoint to the Cabinet names who have been approved, the fact that Jubilee has the majority MPs if the list has been blessed by Uhuru and Ruto they must pass it all the same.
The NIS and the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission have recommended the removal of some individuals citing past questionable dealings and other integrity issues. The President and his Deputy William Ruto will have no alternative but to exclude those individuals from the list to avoid being embarrassed by having their nominees rejected by Parliament.
Among those in the list immensely mentioned in corruption deal include Charity Ngilu. When she was Health Minister she made headlines when a conference held in Nairobi in 2004, ostensibly for people living with HIV/Aids, turned chaotic over misappropriation of funds, courtesy of Ngilu’s daughter who had been contracted to organise it.
Ngilu appointed a tainted Dr Florence Musau as the director of Kenyatta National Hospital. Musau was eventually kicked out in 2009 over corruption allegations. But the Government paid her a total of Sh1.5 million for one year, even as it paid Dr John Kibosia, who had been appointed to act in her place.
Musau’s departure was hastened by investigations of the Efficiency Monitoring Unit that revealed she had been involved in irregularities involving a Sh224 million tender for the procurement of equipment for life support, the Intensive Care Unit and the High Dependency Units.
Even when the corruption allegations were referred to the now defunct Kenya Anti Corruption Agency for prosecution, Ngilu stood by the director, describing her performance at KNH as “exemplary”, and accused some unnamed enemies of undermining her at the ministry.
No sooner, when Ngilu was later moved to Minister of Water and Irrigation, the trickle of controversies grew into a torrent yet again. In 2007, reportedly she raided the Central Police Station and secured her activist friend Anne Njogu from lawful custody.
Later in September 2010, Ngilu and Trade Assistant Minister Wavinya Ndeti were at it again, storming Machakos Police Station to demand the release of 12 of her supporters who had been charged for invading a private property in Athi River.
Ngilu’s next moment of disgrace came in November 2011 after eight of her family members were sucked in yet another corruption scandal. Four companies linked to her close relatives and children were accused of minting millions of shillings after they supplied goods to Tanathi Water Board, which was under Ngilu’s ministry, at grossly exaggerated rates, and without competitive bidding.
One of the companies, Kat Michaels, where the minister’s second daughter Mwende Keteithia Mwendwa was a director, was awarded lucrative contracts.
The company, which was founded in May 2008, had been given a Sh1.8 million contract to supply polo t-shirts, caps, executive pens and carrier bags. The company was also paid Sh800,000 to supply “big diaries” sold to the Board at Sh2,500 each, while the “small” diaries fetched Sh1,500 each.
Enacting a similar script, another firm, Broad Visions Utilities Limited, was founded in April 2008. One of the company’s directors was Billy Indeche, husband to Ngilu’s first-born daughter, Jemi Mwendwa. They too got supply contracts.
Other kin of the minister have been involved. Ngotho Kasyoki Ithumbuti was a director of Timetrax Limited, where he served together with a cousin Patrice Mnene Munguti. This company won a tender to supply GI pipes at Sh23,815 per piece and ultimately supplied 65 pieces.
When the hour of reckoning came, eight people, among them the minister’s son in law, Indeche, and Tourism assistant minister Cecily Mbarire’s husband, Denis Apaa, were arraigned in court charged with a series of corruption offences.
The suspects were alleged to have defrauded the Ministry of Water and Irrigation of Sh26 million after violating the procurement procedures. Others who were charged included Lawrence Simitu, Isaiah Amwanzo Benjamin, Samuel Alouch Otieno, Robert Mati, Joseph Mucuku and Mwagambo Mwangombe.
Besides getting money through fraudulent means from the Government, Indeche and Apaa were accused of committing economic crimes by jointly conspiring to defraud the Water ministry by purporting to qualify for a tender to sink five boreholes in drought-stricken Machakos and Makueni districts at a time the residents were being by drought.
Apart from recording statements with anti-corruption agents, Ngilu had also to appear before the Parliament’s Committee on Equal Opportunities over allegations that she had violated the principle of equitable distribution of resources by favouring certain regions, especially her home area.
Those who came to rescue Ngilu from alleged graft included former Prime Minister Raila Odinga Mutava Musyimi who cleared her of graft charges in April, 2011, and accused her assistant minister Mwangi Kiunjuri, who had blown the whistle on some of the scams, of “witchhunt.”
Fr Joachim Omolo Ouko, AJ
Tel +254 7350 14559/+254 722 623 578
E-mail omolo.ouko@gmail.com
Facebook-omolo beste
Twitter-@8000accomole
Real change must come from ordinary people who refuse to be taken hostage by the weapons of politicians in the face of inequality, racism and oppression, but march together towards a clear and unambiguous goal.
-Anne Montgomery, RSCJ UN Disarmament Conference, 2002