Mwiraria Says He Will Not Quit Over Scam Daily Nation 08 July 2004 Page: 7
Finance minister David Mwiraria yesterday rejected calls for his resignation over his role in the Sh2.7 billion passports scandal.
He also defended himself against a parliamentary watchdogs findings implicating him in the deal. And for the first time, the minister told of how his then Permanent Secretary, Mr Joseph Magari, tricked him into signing the controversial deal with Anglo Leasing and Finance Company.
He showed journalists the dossier which he claimed Mr Magari prepared and used to trick him into signing the deal. The minister had called a press conference in his office to respond to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC)s report released on Tuesday afternoon.
And he scoffed at the calls for his resignation: "A society which accuses others unfairly cannot be termed civilised". He was responding to a question on whether he would resign instead of waiting for the President to sack him.
He confirmed having discussed the scandal with President Kibaki after the special audit by the Auditor-General, but said he had not met him since PAC tabled the report. In the report, the Committee recommends that Mr Mwiraria be held responsible for involving the Government in the scandal. It further notes that the minister was well briefed on the deal by his officials and was satisfied with the way they had handled the transactions.
Mr Mwiraria, PAC says, ignored two calls to appear before the 11-member team to explain why he had delegated powers his PS to sign the agreement.
The team recommends that Mr Magari and former colleagues Joseph Oyula (Treasury) and Sylvester Mwaliko (Vice-Presidents Office and ministry of Home Affairs) face fraud charges. But in his defence yesterday, Mr Mwiraria said that on November 20, 2003, he received recommendations from his then PS that the Immigration Security and Documents Control System was an urgent, high-priority government project intended to modernise Immigration Department.
"I was requested to give my authorisation for single-sourcing and for the PS to sign and execute the necessary agreement and to sign the promissory notes," the minister said. He added that he approved the project in writing because of the recommendations and advice from Mr Magari.