MPs want DP William Ruto’s aides probed over ‘flawed’ jet procurement

The Parliamentary Account Committee during its recent sitting at Parliament Buildings. In its report on the hiring of Deputy President William Ruto’s jet, the team has accused four officials of flouting procurement laws. [PHOTO: GEORGE MULALA/STANDARD]

By WILFRED AYAGA

NAIROBI, KENYA: A House team has recommended further investigation into the hiring of a private jet used by Deputy President William Ruto during last year’s shuttle diplomacy across African capitals. In its report to be debated and possibly endorsed by the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has asked Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to probe the role of Marianne Kitany, who is the DP’s Chief of Staff and three other officials in the DP’s office over the procurement of the so-called ‘Hustler’s Jet.’

The report, a copy of which The Standard has seen, is a follow up to the Auditor General’s report that investigated the controversial hiring, and accuses Kitany and the three officials for allegedly violating the Public Procurement Oversight rules.

It wants EACC to launch investigations into how the jet was exclusively procured for Ruto to tour African States on a mission to lobby support for deferral or return of the cases facing him and the President in The Hague, to the Kenya’s justice system.

LINKING TOP LEADERS

“In our findings, the officials flouted procurement rules as stipulated in the Public Procurement Oversight Authority rules of 2005,” the report to be tabled, concludes.

Other officials to be probed are Ruto’s Administrative Secretary at the time, Abdul Mwasera and procurement officials, Evans Nyachieo and Simon Okoth.

Although the report agrees with most of the Auditor General’s recommendations on the fate of the officials, it however differs on their level of culpability.

Whereas the Auditor General had recommended that the officials be handed over to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), the PAC report suggests that they should be investigated further. “It would not be justified to have them charged without having them probed further for any indiscretions they may have committed,” recommends the report.

During the committee deliberations, the members were split on the issue with some members arguing the Auditor General’s recommendation to hand them over to the DPP would amount to a presumption of guilt.

The Deputy President and his delegation flew in the luxury jet to the West and Central African countries of Nigeria, Congo, Gabon and Ghana in May last year with claims that the trip cost taxpayers Sh100 million.

Although the Office of Deputy President later provided documents to prove that they paid about Sh18.5 million to the jet company, local service orders (LSOs) that were used in the hiring of the jet mysteriously disappeared making it difficult for the office of the Auditor General to pinpoint the exact cost.

Leaves that would have also assisted in resolving the puzzle also vanished without trace from the main chequebook.

Mwasera had told the committee during its hearings that the jet had been hired on President Uhuru Kenyatta’s instructions and that he was only ‘executing the order.’

The committee in its report did not directly rule out the possibility of such instructions, and instead reckoned that the President ‘broke the law’ if indeed he issued such verbal instructions. It stated in its recommendations that “Instructions from the President should be in writing, not verbal.” This is the closest the report comes to linking any of the country’s top two leaders to any irregularities.

The Auditor General had told the committee that he could not find any letter written by the President issuing such instructions with regard to hiring of the jet. “As you know, Article 135 of the Constitution says that such instructions shall be in writing, and must bear the seal and signature of the President. We did not see such a letter,” Mr Ouko told the committee.

On Ruto’s role, the report says: “The Deputy President is not involved in procurement.”

The report lays blame on top officials for the disappearance of the LSOs and probably alleged transfer of staff from the Office of the Deputy President when the controversy came to light.

REMIT TAXES

It says that Kitany should have launched investigations into her staff when the matter was brought to her attention. “The committee found that she never instituted any investigations into the conduct of the staff when the matter was raised in public,” a section of the report says.

The only senior official who appears to have survived adverse mention is former Permanent Secretary in Ruto’s office Mr Mohamed Isahakia, who at the time of the controversy issued a statement denying that the jet had been hired from a European firm—Vista Jet, at an initial cost of Sh24. 4 million.

He instead clarified that the jet had been procured from a Kenyan firm E-ADC at the cost of sh18.5 million. The firm was however later indicted by the Auditor General for failure to remit taxes.

The report, a copy of which The Standard has seen, says that the decision to recommend further investigations into actions of the officials arose out of the committee’s appreciation that the hiring of the jet through single sourcing may have been informed by “time constraints”.

It argues that given the ‘urgency’ of the DP’s trip abroad, the officials may have decided to use an existing list of suppliers presented to them to save on time.

The report, which was adopted on Thursday last week, will be tabled after the National Assembly resumes its sittings on April 22. The House is currently on recess.