E-Clips:- Business Pictorial - House May Form Committee To Probe Scandal

Parliament will soon investigate the multi-billion Anglo Leasing scandal if a proposed motion is passed. Ndhiwa MP Orwa Ojodeh has given notice of a motion seeking to form a select committee to probe biggest scandal ever to face the Kibaki Government.

The motion was handed over to the clerk of the National Assembly yesterday and will be allocated time for debate once Parliament reopens some time in March.

Mandate The select committees mandate would be to investigate the origins of the Anglo Leasing company, identify the person(s) involved and trace the public funds looted through it. The committee would also recommend appropriate measures to recover the money and the action to be taken against the culprits.

Members of the 13-member committee would include Prof Peter Anyang-Nyongo (Kisumu Rural), Mr Maoka Maore (Ntonyiri), Dr Christine Mango (Butula), Ms Nyiva Mwendwa (Kitui West) and Mr William Ruto (Eldoret North). Others would be Mr Mwandawiro Mganga (Taveta), Mr Omingo Magara (South Mugirango), Mr Waithaka Mwangi (Kinangop), Mr Peter Munya (Tigania East), Mr Kenneth Marende (Emuhaya) and Mr Yusuf Haji (Ijara).

The committee would have the power to summon witnesses and take evidence in accordance with the National Assembly Powers and Privileges Act. It would submit its report to the House within six months from the date of its establishment.

Yesterday, Mr Ojode, a former assistant minister, said the amount lost through the scandal was in excess of Sh20 billion. Cabinet ministers and senior civil servants, the MP said, had been associated with the scandal, which, he said, amounted to economic sabotage.

· Butere MP Wycliffe Oparanya has expressed disappointment that the Anglo Leasing perpetrators remain unknown even after the Government has said some money was wired back to the Central Bank of Kenya. Mr Oparanya said that, if so – as Finance minister David Mwiraria and government spokesman Alfred Mutua allege – then Mr Mwiraria should show evidence of it to the Press or Parliament.

Comprehensive report In a statement, Mr Oparanya said the Government must also give a comprehensive report on why the Goldenberg report has been delayed or whether "it has been decided that the matter be handled by the next government". ·

In Eldoret, Law Society of Kenya chairman Tom Ojienda demanded that the Githongo report on Anglo Leasing be made public and that the ministers implicated be forced to resign.

· The Seventh Day Adventist Church asked such ministers to leave of their own volition to make way for fair, free and independent investigations.

· Kituo cha Sheria said it would today address a press conference in Nairobi on the matter.