E-Clips:- Business Pictorial - MPs Beat Bid To Rush Anglo Leasing Debate

A Government effort to rush debate on the controversial report on the Anglo Leasing Finance tenders was defeated on a technicality yesterday. South Mugirango MP Omingo Magara spoke for a record 75 minutes in a deliberate effort to extend debate on Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report on dubious Passport tender.

Buoyed by an obvious majority he had marshalled, Government Chief Whip Norman Nyaga had proposed Magara, as the Mover of the Motion, be called to reply. But sensing defeat and apparently suspicious of Government intentions, Magara who was unhappy the debate had not been accorded enough time used the "stalling" technique to frustrate the bid.

When replying, a mover is allowed infinite time to speak and Parliament is literally at his/her mercy, a fact well utilised by Magara. Drawing an analogy of friends who shared a poisonous fruit, Magara, in an apparent criticism of last weeks vote that expunged sections critical to Finance minister David Mwiraria, questioned the sincerity of the move.

"If three of us eat a bad apple that causes constipation, would it not be a miracle if it doesnt cause all of us to suffer?" he quipped. He dismissed as "political turncoats" several MPs who backed the Government-led effort to bail out Mwiraria.

Saying "they had joined the bandwagon for fear or anticipation of reward," Magara said such MPs had failed to appreciate that corruption fights back by "touching on our mothers and brothers." By voting to expunge recommendations against Mwiraria, Parliament had failed to make "corruption a very risky business to deter future criminals," he said.