House of betrayal: Ruthless interests that build, destroy political careers

ODM’s ruthless purge on Narok Senator Ledama ole Kina from Senate committees has lifted the lid on the betrayal, scheming and dirty secrets in the cut-throat competition for parliamentary leadership.

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC), the forerunner of the County Public Accounts and Investment Committee (CPAIC), has through its push and pull produced two presidents since the reintroduction of multi-party democracy and modelled the current crop of senior politicians in the country.

But it has also been a deathbed of political careers, unfulfilled ambitions and shady dealings that have derailed the country’s growth and political trajectory. Former President Mwai Kibaki, President Uhuru Kenyatta, Deputy President William Ruto, late Vice President Kijana Wamalwa, Opposition leader Raila Odinga have all chaired PAC in the past.

“Why are they so much against me? The answers will shock you! It’s deeper than you think!” Kina tweeted yesterday.

He was de-whipped from two Senate committees for defying his party position and ganging up with Jubilee senators to defeat instructions from party leadership to back Kisii Senator Sam Ongeri for the position of CPAIC chair.

It was the latest case in a long litany of instances where people who have defied party positions and wrestled with political bigwigs have been crushed by their parties’ machinery. They include Malindi MP Aisha Jumwa, former Kilifi North MP Gideon Mung’aro and Mwingi North MP John Munuve.

Mung’aro was dropped as Minority Chief Whip in the National Assembly in the last Parliament for failing to toe the party line, while Munuve was dropped from the Finance Committee for similar reasons. At the beginning of the current Parliament, Jubilee de-whipped MPs Alfred Keter (Nandi Hills), Silas Tiren (Moiben) and Kangogo Bowen (Marakwet East) as they were considered rebels.

In Kina’s case, he had warned Senate Minority Leader James Orengo that he had messed “with a wrong number”, after the Siaya Senator wrote to Speaker Kenneth Lusaka on the party’s intention to de-whip him from CPAIC and the Senate Business Committee.

Orengo himself had earned the Minority Leader position through a similar purge against Bungoma Senator Moses Wetang’ula. Just like Kina, Wetang’ula’s initial bravado that his departure from the seat would be “noisy, messy and will have casualties” worked against him.

In the last Parliament, then youthful Budalang’i MP Ababu Namwamba was at the helm of the PAC in the National Assembly. He was then engulfed in bribery claims, fell out with his own party and lost election, but was rehabilitated with a Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS) appointment.

11 applicants

“I want to tell this committee... that my life is not entirely safe having dealt with powerful forces,” he said in 2015.

Long before him, Raila’s father, the late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, was caught up in similar bribery claims involving the Goldenberg scam of the 1990s.

In the Senate at the moment, so powerful is the committee that to get a slot, one has to seek the backing of other members. When the vacancy was announced, 11 applicants showed their interests for only four slots, down from the initial 18 in 2017.

Ongeri had been short-changed in the 2017 committee polls by Homa Bay Senator Moses Kajwang’ and it was now time that he actualised his ambitions to chair the most dreaded committee in the Senate.

However, pundits are digging in the alliance between Kina and Jubilee-allied senators, especially Millicent Omanga (Nominated), Mithika Linturi (Meru) and Kimani Wamatangi (Kiambu). During the polls, Omanga proposed Kina and Wamatangi seconded.

Ochillo Ayacko (Migori) had been poised to win as he got the backing of the majority of the members, but he did not contest for the seat after he was prevailed upon to step down for Ongeri.

Senate Minority Whip Mutula Kilonzo Jnr (Makueni) opines that although the Senate Standing Orders were amended, they have created a problem where the committee is chaired by the Minority side, but a Majority of members are from the majority party.

“In essence, the chair is a paper tiger of the Majority. Kajwang’s election had similar issues, but it was managed well,” said Mutula.

He argued that the members who elected Kina were motivated to create a crisis.

“The motivation of creating a crisis is two-pronged; to stab ODM in the back and to get a friendly chair for other purposes, including the perceived or real unholy alliance with governors,” Mutula said.

The Sunday Standard has learnt that the committee has some of the same crew that were accused by business mogul Francis Mburu of soliciting for Sh100 million to be left off the hook in the Sh1.5 billion Ruaraka land scandal.

Lusaka said affidavits by Mburu were filed outside the period given by the team that probed the matter and did not contain details that would form grounds for investigations.

“The committee is unable to undertake an inquiry on its own motion,” a report tabled by nominated Senator Sylvia Kasanga read.

“It is dangerous to allow a precedent where persons indicted by members of a committee make unsubstantiated allegations and cause the Powers and Privileges Committee to indefinitely suspend the work of the committee,” protested Kajwang’ then.

Deputy Speaker and Tharaka Nithi Senator Kithure Kindiki at the time defended the House leadership, saying they were waiting for the Powers and Privileges committee to conclude its inquiry.

Lusaka chaired the Powers and Privileges Committee to establish the veracity of the claims and asked Kajwang’ to furnish him with the response. The matter is still lying in abeyance at the Senate.