Nyeri County Assembly forms committee to probe Sh600m pending bills

KENYA: The county assembly will create an adhoc committee to spearhead investigations into how the county government accumulated pending bills amounting to Sh635,517,962 as disclosed in the revised Annual Development Plan for the financial year 2015-2016.

Majority Leader Jesse Kamuri moved the motion to form the committee and insisted that this was the only way to identify genuine pending bills and whether the county government had flaunted the law.

The motion was seconded by Muruguru Ward MCA Anthony Kibuu who urged the members to support it so as to protect residents from corruption.

However, Kabaru MCA Duncan Gituanja challenged the legality of forming a committee, saying it was usurping the powers of the sectoral committees. “While the points raised by the majority leaders are valid, the purpose of forming the committee to discuss questions that have already been resolved by the sectoral committees is illegal,” Mr Gituanja said.

He noted that the sectoral committees had already verified the pending bills in each department and therefore there was no need to form a committee less than 20 days after the reports from the committees had been adapted in the assembly.

Gituanja’s sentiments were echoed by Chinga MCA Paul Ngiria who said the formation of an ad hoc committee was unconstitutional because the revised annual development plan had already addressed the issues.

Speaker David Mugo asked for 30minutes in order to deliver a ruling on the objections raised by the two members.

Mr Mugo later ruled the formation of the ad hoc committee was constitutional and legal because the annual development plan had not resolved the queries that would be investigated by the committee. “After careful consideration of the objections raised by the honourable members, I rule that they are unmerited and unwarranted and debate on the motion should now proceed,” Mugo ruled.

Rugi MCA Johnson Njoroge supported the motion and asked members to support the committee in carrying out its mandate. “This committee will not go on a witch hunt and it will carry out its mandate without bias. We just want the truth on what has led to the pending bills in the county,” he said.

Nominated MCA Virginia Waruta said she did not support the motion because the members selected for the committee were not representative of the diversity of the house.

But despite opposition from various members, the motion passed by acclamation.

The ad hoc committee is to undertake the physical verification of the projects that gave rise to the pending bills and determine whether procurement procedures were followed in the awarding of contracts and other legal engagements by the county government. It is expected to present its report to the assembly within 14 days.