Cord MPs to block Ngilu, Balala

By NATION REPORTER
Posted  Thursday, April 25  2013 at  23:30

Opposition MPs will rally their colleagues to reject the nomination of Mrs Charity Ngilu and Mr Najib Balala to the Cabinet, according to Deputy Minority Leader Jakoyo Midiwo.

Mr Midiwo said he would specifically oppose the nomination of Mrs Ngilu, whose tenure at the Water ministry was marred by allegations of improprieties in procurement and tendering.

The Gem MP said the Cabinet list also failed to meet regional balance.

“Which Kenyan doesn’t know that Ngilu has issues with the anti-corruption (commission)?” he asked at a press conference at Parliament Buildings hours after the announcement of the Cabinet nominees at State House.

“I’m disappointed...they said they would give us a Cabinet of technocrats, but they have given us partisan politicians,”  he said.

“Personally, I have no problem with Balala, but the standards set by the President (were clear).”

Mr Midiwo is a member of the Committee on Appointments, whose sole mandate will be the vetting of the Cabinet nominees.

The list is yet to be sent to the National Assembly for vetting. The public will be allowed seven days to participate in the vetting by presenting oral or written submissions to the committee.

Mr Joseph Nkaissery (Kajiado Central, ODM) asked the Jubilee team to “be ready for a showdown” with MPs over the politicians they propose to put in the Cabinet. “Let them be ready but we’re going to shoot down some of these names,” said Mr Nkaissery, who is also on the vetting team.

He spoke at a press conference where MPs from the Maa community — the Maasai and Samburu — complained that nobody from their community had been nominated to the Cabinet.

Mr Gideon Konchella (Kilgoris, URP) said: “Some of those appointed are some of the most corrupt Kenyans I know.”

Tongaren MP Eseli Simiyu said he expected the report from the Committee on Appointments to include the corruption allegations against Mrs Ngilu.

But MPs Bare Shill (Fafi, URP) and Mohammed Shidiye (Lagdera, TNA) defended the nominations, saying, the former Cabinet ministers were experienced.

Jubilee enjoys a comfortable majority in the House and this was extended to the 28-member Committee on Appointments, where it has 16 members to the opposition’s 10. The Speaker and an Independent MP complete the list.