I am ready to resign if Afya House scandal is true – Moses Kuria

Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria has vowed to resign from office if reports about theft of Ksh5 billion from the Health Ministry are proven true.

Speaking on Citizen TV’s Sunday Live news segment, Kuria said that reports about mass corruption at Afya House – reports that have linked President Uhuru Kenyatta’s family to the alleged theft of public money – are baseless.

“Forget about those named in the report, as a Jubilee MP if any of those things that the auditor has included in the report are proven to be true I am ready to resign,” he said.

The outspoken MP, who hinted at sinister motives behind the leak of the audit, said that the heavily circulated report was laden with untruths.

“There are allegations in the report that are untrue. For instance, the auditor claims that parliament passed the supplementary budget irregularly, thus casting aspersions on the role of parliamentary budget committee, of which I am a member,” he said.

Kuria further warned political leaders against politicizing the fight against corruption, saying doing so works to undermine Jubilee’s resilience to end graft

“First, our attitude has to change. If you politicize the process of fighting corruption then you are abetting it,” he said.

Kuria went further to hint at a sinister motive behind the leak of the audit, arguing that releasing such information before individuals who were adversely mentioned had a chance to respond was extremely procedural.

“Also, when an internal auditor leaks a report to the media instead of presenting it to those named to get answers, then is that helping fight corruption in any way?” questioned the Gatundu South MP.

He assured the country of Jubilee’s commitment to fight graft, making reference to the six cabinet secretaries who lost their jobs after their names appeared in the Ethics and Anti-Corruption (EACC) “list of shame” over graft allegations last year.

“Out of the 18 Cabinet Secretaries that we had when we started, six were sacked over corruption. Instead of pointing fingers, everyone should learn to take their fair share of blame and responsibility in the fight against corruption.”

“We cannot be waking up to look for a villain every time we hear about corruption allegations. We should stop always laying blame on the executive,” said Kuria.

The Gatundu South legislator rubbished claims that recent corruption revelations had affected Jubilee’s support in the country saying their support base was intact.

“I have been to Uasin Gishu, Baringo and Kiambu counties and people have different issues to deal with, other than the allegations being peddled on social media. Jubilee is only losing in two counties; Facebook and Twitter,” he said.

On his part, Balambala MP Aden Abdikadir asked the president to take responsibility of the corruption allegations that have rocked his administration.

Aden noted that, Jubilee administration had already lost favour in the eyes of Kenyans owing to the numerous scandals that had rocked the government including the National Youth Service (NYS) and Youth Fund scandals, adding that if the Afya House scandal is proven to be true it would put President Uhuru’s name into further disrepute.

He also noted that should it be proven that President Uhuru’s sister Ms Nyokabi Kenyatta was awarded tender meant for special groups (people with disability, women and youth) it would not auger well with Kenyans.

“The audit report is in public domain. The procedure for its release may be untrue but it is still out there. We have investigations going on and if the allegations that Uhuru’s close relatives were awarded tenders, then it would mount to conflict of interest.”

The MP also questioned the Ministry’s involvement in county health affairs since health is a devolved function.

“Why is it that health has been heaped with huge amounts of budgetary allocations yet it is devolved? Kenyans are tired of mega corruption and cannot take it anymore.

“As the Opposition, we will keep looking for all hidden secrets. We will unearth them in order to put Jubilee to task because that is our duty,” said Aden.

Kuria said that anyone in the country has a right to bid for government tenders, arguing that the fact that one is related to government officials should not be an impeding factor.

He stated that there is a provision that allowed any aggrieved party in a tendering process to file their complaint within 14 days, questioning why nobody expressed grievances over Nyakobi’s case.

In an article, published on Sunday Nation, Sundales International Limited – whose directors include Mrs Nyokabi and her cousin, Kathleen Kihanya – is named at number 1790 on the Public Procurement Oversights Authority’s 2014 roll of “Disadvantaged Groups” that should receive preferential treatment when they bid for tenders.

Sundales is reported to have received Ksh41 million as part-payment for several tenders it won for supplies to the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority.

Ms Kihanya has, however, come out to refute claims that her firm won the tender unfairly, instead blaming CORD leader Raila Odinga for linking them to graft.

Deputy President William Ruto has also come to the defense of Ms Nyokabi, saying that being a woman, she too was entitled to tenders like any other woman in the country.

On Sunday, Heath Cabinet Secretary Cleopa Mailu pointed out apparent discrepancies in the report saying some of the figures poked holes on the report, raising issues with its methodology and the double calculations on several budgetary allocations.

He said so far there was no evidence to show money had been lost, calling on Kenyans to be patient as investigations continue.