MPs order probe into Ruto luxury jet trip

Public Accounts Committee Ababu Namwamba (Budalangi, Cord) has said the audit was necessary to give the committee a professional opinion on the cost incurred by the Deputy President during his recent visit to countries in West and Central Africa. FILE  NATION

By CAROLINE WAFULA cwafula@ke.nationmedia.com and AND JOHN NGIRACHU jngirachu@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Thursday, May 23  2013 at  21:12

 

Parliament has ordered an audit into the hiring of a private plane for Deputy President William Ruto.

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Thursday referred the matter to the Auditor-General for the audit.

The Auditor-General was asked to immediately investigate the agreement and give a report to the committee in three weeks.

The watchdog committee met on short notice yesterday after directions had been made that it takes up the matter for investigation.

However, it was considered that the committee can only investigate matters based on the Auditor-General’s report. This necessitated the decision to refer the matter to the office of the Auditor-General.

Thursday’s meeting, attended by 11 members of the committee, deliberated on the matter before the decision was made.

Committee chairman Ababu Namwamba (Budalangi, Cord) said the audit was necessary to give the committee a professional opinion on the cost incurred by the Deputy President during his recent visit to countries in West and Central Africa.

“This isn’t witch-hunt but for public good. It is for the protection of the integrity of the office of the Deputy President,” he said.

Mr Namwamba said PAC was the heart of oversight in Parliament and that it would handle the matter professionally.

Documents

He said the auditor’s report will enable the committee to deal with the matter professionally “without drama”.

“It is not only fair to the House but also for the public officers named because as it is now nobody knows the authenticity of the documents that people are purporting to publish,” he stated.

Mr James Bett (Jubilee), however, insisted that the Auditor-General should also carry out a comparative audit of how previous holders of a similar office had operated on the same matter.