Parliament cited for rent seeking in the name of oversight role

The National Assembly and Senate’s oversight roles have now been put into question following a series of events that have lifted the lid on what critics term as an unholy alliance with the executive.

The ongoings at a National Assembly committee on Thursday where the Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife Cabinet Secretary Rebecca Miano was appearing to answer to members queries – and where she seemed to enjoy protection from the committee chair from answering hard questions- have given fodder to claims of MPs rent seeking and in return shielding witnesses, especially state officers, from the much-needed scrutiny.

The crux of the matter before the committee chaired by MP Kareke Mbiuki was the ongoing Sh31.6 billion “shadowy” refurbishment of the Bomas of Kenya.

The House team demanded to know from the CS who had authorised the demolition and reconstruction of the national icon without Parliament’s approval, terming the ongoing operations as opaque.

Debate on the issue began after Lukuyani MP Innocent Mugabe sparked debate on the controversial Bomas renovation, demanding to know why the government had been secretive about the ongoing works. The committee consequently sought to know why Parliament had been bypassed.

“Can the CS give full information on the issue of Bomas and the works going on. As a committee, we are in the dark.  We need to get proper facts on the funding model of the projects and everything related to it,” stated Mugabe. 

But even before he finished his question, Chairman Mbuiki interjected, “Wewe hukuona Kenya Gazette?Ilitoa Bomas of Kenya kutoka culture sasa iko Tourism.(Didn’t you see the Gazette notice that transferred the Bomas of Kenya from the state department of culture to the ministry of tourism?”

Mugabe continued, “Having Bomas change from being under the department of culture to Tourism does not change anything…There are ongoing works there, but as the oversight committee, we do not know what is happening. There are so many questions surrounding the issue of Bomas, and it should not be taken lightly,” he added.

And as soon as he was done, Mbuiki interjected again; “Madam Chair, just note, what you can be able to respond to, you can respond. You can also respond in generality, and if you can be able to give in-depth, you can still do that. But it is a question of just getting a feeling of the members of some of the issues, which later on or now, we can have a discussion.”

Ijaara MP Abdi Ali, however, expressed concern that, as the oversight committee, it was in the dark and questioned who gave the go-ahead to give Bomas the facelift. He warned that if left unmonitored, the aftermath of the project completion would be chaotic, as witnessed with the Sh3 billion KICC project.

“You know this is not the first time such a thing has happened. Before her (the CS), we know what has happened in the past with KICC. It was an inter-ministerial undertaking, but we don’t know how the project was procured. We later had contractors who came before this committee expressing their concern, and that is why we don’t want a repeat of the same thing that we underwent two years ago,” he remarked.

“Remember, the ongoing construction at Bomas is being handled by the Ministry of Defence, and it is the same people who handled the project. So, we want to know the process and whether the tender was advertised, whether there was pre-qualification, whether it was a direct tender, so that the committee can have a chance to do their proper oversight work,” he reiterated.

The committee chairman subsequently questioned whether the CS had given the committee a wide berth when it came to tourism-related matters.

“Please, C, tell us what is happening. Your people are only keen on engaging us during the budget process, but during the implementation process, they pass us. We only see projects being launched at high-profile events where the president is involved, and we are in the dark,” he said.

And CS Miano, seemingly heeding the chairperson’s advice, chose to respond to the issue raised by members in general. She only revealed that the financing of the project had been transferred from the Ministry of Sports, Culture and Heritage to the Tourism Ministry following an executive order.

“We have taken note of the members' concerns, the expectation for information, and we will go back and prepare for both the Tourism Promotion Fund and Bomas of Kenya, which has now been domiciled in our ministry, and we are in the process of the handover,” she submitted.

Kisii Senator Richard Onyonka now claims that Parliament has abdicated its role of oversight on the executive, noting that MPs have been compromised. He claimed that MPs did not care and were now “part of the largesse”.

“They (MPs) cannot be able to oversight. Why? Because they are part of the take. How do you oversight somebody who has given you money, yet not to oversight? That was most probably done a year ago…whatever you see happening in terms of the Bomas of Kenya project, there was no due diligence. No one has asked who owns that title now. Sometimes we hear it is a private company that has taken over Bomas,” he told The Saturday Standard.

Adding, “Kenyans are on their ownNobody is watching and monitoring what’s going on. What is happening is that these individuals are sharing the loot. If you are not going to be part of that, they demonise you.”

Mukurweini MP John Kaguchia is of the same school of thought, noting that rent-seeking by legislators had disparaged the House’s reputation.

“MPs are bidding to the executive for pay and favours. The more they shield witnesses from questions, the more they are paid. The favours include tenders, employment of their family members and such,” stated Kaguchia.

Just last week, Senator Onyonka also walked out of the Senate Finance Committee, where Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi had appeared to answer members’ queries on the government’s continued borrowing and accumulating debt.

The session, however, quickly turned fiery after Onyonka accused Senator Tabitha Mutinda and the committee chairperson of holding a brief for CS Mbadi.

“Madam Tabitha, stop defending the CS. Honourable John can defend himself…let me say my case…this is the problem with us. Stop stopping me from doing my job. Allow me to make my case!” exclaimed Onyonka before walking out of the committee meeting.

Minutes prior, he had termed a report tabled by CS Mbadi as “irrelevant,” prompting a reaction from Senator Mutinda.

“Point of order, Mr. chairman, you know you (Onyonka) just can’t come on record and say a report is irrelevant when we asked the minister to appear so we can interrogate the report…I’m not defending the CS…you just walked in, you should look at the report that the minister has presented…,” she had remarked.

But on Thursday, Onyonka rebutted, “Our job is to oversee the executive and in that case the CEO is the Cabinet Secretary… The reason why the Presidency can borrow money without consultation with the National Assembly and the Senate is that there was an amendment to the PFM Act. Money was supposed to go to specific projects. They no longer do that. The money being borrowed now is for recurrent expenditure, and the committee is not interrogating the minister for that, yet we have billions of shillings being stolen.”   

Parliament has also,o in the recent past, st struggled with the question of integrity as probes into scandals and cases where millions were allegedly looted have been dogged by claims of rent-seeking.

Case in point, during a probe by the Senate into the Shakahola massacre in late 2023, the Danson Mungatana-led Adhoc committee came under fire and was pressed for answers after it emerged that the House team,m – which was looking into the connection between the Shakahola incident and Pastor Ezekiel Odero’s church in Kilifi County, had travelled to Mavueni in Kilifi without the Secretariat.

Mungatana, the committee chair, would, however, defend the team’s visit, stating that they had no time to procure funds to enable the whole team to travel.

“We did not have time, that is why the team was ready to travel and come and make the claims later. We did not have the Clerk for the reason that at the time of going, we did not have the funds, but we made sure that everything that we observed was captured because I gave the report,” he explained.

He further told Senators that having already been given an extension (of time to probe the matter), it was impossible for the committee to get another extension because of budgetary constraints, necessitating them to fast-track their investigations.

“The national forensic laboratory that is under DCI has been frustrated beyond even performance by the very people who are sponsoring negative articles because they know the bombshell we are going to lay in this House, but tell the Executive arm of government that we will expose them for who they are, because they failed the people of Kenya, and it doesn’t matter if you send the government Whip here,” Mungatana rejoined.

Speaker Amason Kingi, on his part, ruled that the matter be handled administratively, noting that he had already instituted measures to handle the issue.