KEEP ALI OUT OF PROBE, MICHUKI SAYS
Story By David Mugonyi
Daily Nation, Kenya
April 4 2006
Cabinet minister John Michuki has written to Speaker Francis Kaparo
seeking to stop police chiefs from giving evidence to a parliamentary
committee.
In the letter, Mr Michuki says he had answered all the questions and
did not see why his juniors were being asked to appear before the
Parliamentary Committee on Administration of Justice and Legal Affairs.
He said: “I have already explained all there is as the minister in
charge and I am, therefore, deeply constrained by the committee’s
widely publicised intention to summon the director of Criminal
Investigations Department and the Commissioner of Police.”
“Precisely what policy issues does the committee expect to receive
from my subordinates?”
Mr Michuki also complained that the committee had leaked to the media
his submissions, which was contrary to House rules.
He described the decision to summon Police Commissioner Hussein
Ali and CID director Joseph Kamau to cross check his submissions as
“scandalous”.
“It is totally unfair for the committee to use its privileged position
to advance an agenda which is obviously not in the best interest of
the public,” he said.
So far, Maj-Gen Ali and Mr Kamau have not appeared before the
committee, which is led by Kabete MP Paul Muite, despite having been
summoned to do so.
In his letter to the Speaker dated March 28, Mr Michuki says the
planned interview of his subordinates was likely to “demean and lower
not just the integrity of the said committee, but that of the House
as a whole.”
Sources said the committee had resolved to issue further summons
to Major-Gen Ali and Mr Kamau, this time round threatening to take
action against them should they fail to before the team.
Maj-Gen Ali is on record saying he had not been briefed on the raid,
which raised question as to who ordered. It also raised question as
to whether there was a parallel force within the police force.
His attempts to sack Mr Kamau who was said to have participated in
a meeting that planned the raid were thwarted.
As Mr Michuki wrote, President Kibaki’s special adviser on policy and
strategy, Mr Stanley Murage, was yesterday grilled by the parliamentary
committee on the alleged presence of mercenaries in the country.
Mr Murage was also asked whether he attended a meeting that planned the
raid on the Standard Group. But he denied all the allegations. He also
refuted allegations that he hosted two Armenians – Artur Margaryan
and Artur Sargasyan – at State House Nairobi, sources within the
committee told the Nation.
The Armenian brothers have been in the news on allegations that
they were mercenaries. But they have refuted the claims, which were
originated by Lang’ata MP Raila Odinga. They have since sued Mr Odinga
over the allegations.
Mr Murage was the third witness to be summoned by the committee after
Mr Michuki and Internal Security permanent secretary Cyrus Gituai.
Mr Murage recently described the claims that he hosted the Armenians as
“untrue, uncalled for and outright malicious.”
He termed the utterances as “propaganda by sections of politicians”
and said he would seek legal redress.
When Mr Michuki appeared before the committee two weeks ago in
company of Mr Gituai, he said the raid on the Standard was planned
and implemented by the Government for security reasons.
Mr Michuki denied that there were foreigners involved in the raid.
He also told the committee that the Government was in process of
decoding information from the computers that were taken during the
March 2 raid.
He also denied that the two Armenians in the country were not
mercenaries but businessmen.
However, some leaders led by LDP’s Mr Odinga have insisted that
foreigners were involved in the raids.