Angry Uhuru storms Jubilee meeting to avert budget crisis

A furious President Uhuru Kenyatta stormed a meeting of Jubilee MPs and ordered them to abandon a scheme by members of the National Assembly to block passage of the Budget.

The dramatic intervention at lunchtime in a Nairobi hotel Thursday by the President and his deputy, William Ruto, averted a looming shutdown of government operations after the House in the afternoon approved the report on the Budget estimates.

Sources said the dressing-down lasted less than 10 minutes, during which the President declared he would not tolerate actions meant to sabotage his government, and then drove back to State House together with Ruto.

The Head of State is reported to have warned the legislators of unspecified consequences if they failed to pass the crucial agenda.

And to signal his seriousness, the President is understood to have told the MPs he would demand a list should the matter end up in a physical vote to establish those who had not voted for it.

President Uhuru is said to have challenged his troops to explain the relationship between the Budget and a court case challenging the legality of the Sh35 billion National Government Constituency Development Fund that has infuriated MPs.

He asked the MPs to leave the court to do its work, before asking them to go back to Parliament and ensure the Budget was passed.

“He asked us why we wanted to place hurdles in the way of his government. Some of our colleagues who tried to argue out the case were also asked to explain their interest in the court case,” an MP confided in The Standard.

“The boss was so furious that he even refused to talk to us further and stormed out of the meeting, together with Ruto, ignoring calls by my colleagues urging them to stay,” added a Jubilee MP from Central.

He went on: “The two even declined to take lunch at the invitation of the House leadership.”

Another legislator said the President took issue with their demands on the fund, warning that his administration’s projects would not be put in jeopardy. “The President expressed his displeasure with the MPs for trying to undermine his government for their selfish interests. He dared us to go against his direction,” he said.

Hostile MPs protesting at the uncertainty over their Sh35 billion kitty, whose approval is needed to issue Sh1.6 trillion from the Consolidated Fund to finance budgetary expenditure until June 30, had sought to use the Budget Motion as leverage for their CDF demands. They are angered by a court case that, for the second time, is challenging the constitutionality of the fund that is managed by MPs.

The report of the Budget and Appropriations Committee on the estimates for the national government, the Judiciary and Parliament for the financial year 2016/2017 had been before the House since June 7. It precedes the Appropriations Bill, a legislation that authorises Government to spend public money, and which the MPs target.

Angry exchanges

And the U-turn by the ruling coalition members later sparked angry exchanges with Opposition MPs, who accused them of pulling out of a deal to shut down Government by refusing to pass the 2016/2017 Budget.

There were bitter exchanges in the corridors of Parliament after Jubilee MPs passed the Budget. The CORD and Jubilee MPs had during an early morning Kamukunji (informal House meeting) struck a deal to hold the Budget approval in abeyance, but CORD MPs were caught flat-footed when their Jubilee colleagues went ahead to approve the report following the meeting with the President at Panafric Hotel.

When the crucial hour in the House came, Opposition MPs were caught by surprise when their erstwhile comrades-in-arms voted ‘aye’, leaving them fuming and vowing never to engage them in any agreement in future.

Leader of Majority Aden Duale (Garissa Town), however, dismissed the Kamukunji as non-binding and merely ‘a political process’.

“A Kamukunji is just an informal gathering, and whatever we agreed was not the position of the Jubilee coalition or Jubilee leadership in the House... We had a parliamentary group meeting in the afternoon and we agreed that there was no relationship between the Budget and the court case,” he said.

The case, filed by the Institute of Social Accountability, is challenging the legality of the Act on grounds of separation of powers between the Executive and the Legislature.

Throughout the week, MPs were worried that the outcome of the case could impact on the disbursement of the Sh35 billion for constituency development. Last week, a vote on the Budget report was called off to seek a way forward on the matter. MPs claimed governors were behind the court case in a bid to cut them down to size, and expressed fear that the Act could face a similar fate as the previous CDF Act that was last year defeated on similar grounds.

To stem the possibility of losing out on the money, MPs had agreed to form a committee to explore a way out of the impasse. Among those in the committee were Chris Wamalwa (Kiminini), Alice Wahome (Kandara), Samuel Gichigi (Kipipiri), Millie Odhiambo (Mbita), Adan Keynan (Eldas), Shabbir Shakeel (Kisumu East), Dalmas Otieno (Rongo) and John Serut (Mt Elgon).

The committee is said to have met Solicitor General Njee Muturi and Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua to explore ways of resolving the matter. At Thursday’s Kamukunji, the MPs agreed to hire top-notch lawyers and had reportedly approached Fred Ngatia, Ochieng Oduol and Kioko Kilukumi to take up their case.

The MPs are also said to have agreed to each contribute Sh100,000 from the CDF kitty to fight the court case.

“We agreed on all these things. However, Jubilee has shown that they cannot respect bipartisan agreements. We will never engage in such agreements again. CDF belongs to the people and it is important that we protect the fund. It has changed a lot in the constituencies,” said Millie Odhiambo, who accused her jubilee colleagues of bad faith.

And Wamalwa chimed in: “This was a bipartisan agreement not to pass the Budget. We had agreed that we wait for the outcome of the CDF case on Tuesday next week before we decide on our next course of action. But when our colleagues went to meet the President, they came back changed people. We were surprised when they violated the deal”.

The approval of the Budget report now clears the way for the tabling of the Appropriations Bill.