Gumbo: PAC will be above suspicion like Caesar's wife

Rarieda MP Nicholas Gumbo (left) who was elected PAC chairman and the new Vice Chairman Kipkelion West MP Jackson Rop address a press conference at Parliament Buildings yesterday. [PHOTO: GOVEDI ATSUSA/STANDARD]

Kenya: A reluctance in the ranks of the Opposition to back the candidature of ODM Chairman John Mbadi to chair the National Assembly’s powerful Public Accounts Committee (PAC) appears to have worked in favour of the eventual winner, Rarieda MP Nicholas Gumbo, with some help from Jubilee MPs.

Although the voting was by secret ballot, Coalition for Reform and Democracy (CORD) MPs in the committee told The Standard the Opposition coalition had no position on a preferred candidate, yet it was clear prior to the ballot that Mbadi was ODM party leader Raila Odinga’s choice.

Ford Kenya Secretary General Eseli Simiyu (Tongaren) had stepped down from the race, saying he was “standing by the party position, which was to elect Mbadi”.

Gumbo secured the leadership of the PAC with 12 votes to beat his party’s chairman Mbadi, who got nine, with another ODM MP Abdikadir Aden (Balambala) securing four.

Twenty-six of the committee’s 27 members voted, with the last-minute entrant in the race, Mwatate MP Andrew Mwadime, presumed to have voted for himself.

Given that Jubilee has the majority of members (14) in the PAC, it is presumed that Gumbo secured significant support from both the ruling coalition and CORD MPs, who are 13 in the committee, despite expectations that Mbadi, by virtue of his party position and being preferred by Raila, would get a sizable chunk of the CORD’s 13 votes.

In the end, passionate night-long lobbying, the hands-off approach by Raila who apparently didn’t press much for the party favourite, a last-minute entry of another Opposition MP and rare independent voting among the MPs of the ruling Jubilee coalition, propelled Gumbo to the helm of PAC.

Minority Leader Francis Nyenze, the Minority Whip Thomas Mwadeghu and the Deputy Minority Whip Chris Wamalwa, and even MPs Jessica Mbalu (Kibwezi East) and Silvance Osele (Kabondo Kasipul) all insisted that there was no coalition position.

“We wanted democracy to prevail. They are all our members, whoever wins, he is still ours. They are all above reproach,” said Nyenze shortly before the final vote was announced.

There were 26 MPs present in the 27-member committee – Alice Chae (Nyamira) is abroad on official duty—at yesterday’s vote.

For the seat of the vice chairperson, the committee elected Jackson Rop (Kipkelion West) who won with 15 votes; David Bowen (Marakwet East) got six votes, while Joseph Manje (Kajiado North) got five votes.

corruption stench

The new top line-up in the PAC is a mix of the old and the new, and it has pledged to rid the committee of the lingering stench of corruption, bribery and extortion, and put it “beyond reproach like Caesar’s wife”.

Gumbo is a second-term MP, but a new MP in the PAC, having been picked last Wednesday to replace one of five MPs who were banned. Rop is a first-term lawmaker, but a former member of PAC in the current National Assembly, and he was among those who were rendered temporarily out of the team when the committee was suspended over allegations of corruption.

An ecstatic Gumbo addressed a news conference flanked by Rop, during which he pledged to “hit the ground running” in keeping the Jubilee administration in check.

“God is kind to those who went to school bare-foot...I reached out to every member personally, I made calls to each of them, talked to them and I told all of them that I need their vote, and I will foster teamwork and honesty within the committee. I also had a team working behind the scenes,” said Gumbo.

“We are nothing, really, but first among equals. Each MP here has the expertise and we’ll work together as a team,” he added.

Mbadi was upset that the party position had been flouted.

“This is the first election I have lost in my life. The party had agreed that I get to be the chairperson and you can see nine MPs voted with me...The coalition has confidence in me. But we are one team, and we’ll work together,” Mbadi told journalists.

His defeat, he said, did not mean he did not have absolute command of ODM.

“It was not an ODM vote, we also had Jubilee MPs and they are the majority,” said Mbadi.

But Mwadeghu, Nyenze and Wamalwa insisted that the party had not reached any position on who to vote in the elections.

Wiper MP Jessica Mbalu (Kibwezi East), one of those who had planned to vie late Monday, dropped out on Tuesday morning.