Africa-Press – Kenya. National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula on Wednesday stopped Members of Parliament from debating recent events surrounding Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o.
This was after a few members including Leader of the Majority Kimani Ichung’wah and his counterpart Opiyo Wandayi made remarks on the issue.
According to Wetang’ula, debating on the issue would lead to prejudice.
“Let us leave the matter there so that we do not prejudice her (Nyakang’o’s case). We are making it difficult for her lawyers and others who might take the Hansard and appear before the court and complicate her defence,” Wetang’ula said.
Making his remarks, the Leader of the Minority said that some members had the view that the CoB had been arrested due to her strong stand against the misuse of public funds.
“We don’t want to go into the details of why she was arrested because some of us hold the strongest view that she was being pursued for her strong stance against misuse of public funds,” he said.
His counterpart Ichung’wah who is Kikuyu MP pointed out that some legislators who were defending Nyakang’o were the same people who were vilifying her when she spoke about being coerced to withdraw Sh15 billion from the exchequer.
“Thank God that today we are talking about the impropriety of Nyakang’o before she came to office in 2016,” he said.
As a result, the Speaker urged the MPs to be cautious as the matter touching on the CoB was before the court and what they would say is likely to undermine even the integrity of the case including the defence of the CoB.
On Tuesday, Nyakang’o was arrested in connection with a complaint made against her and 10 other persons in 2016. This was before she became the CoB.
The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions approved the charges in a letter to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) dated November 30.
She and 10 others are expected to face charges including conspiracy to defraud contrary to Section 317 of the Penal Code, operating a Sacco without a Licence Contrary to Section 24 as read with Section 66 of the Sacco Societies Act, 2008, forgery and uttering a false document c/s 353 of the Penal Code.
While appearing before Mombasa Law Court Chief Magistrate Alex Ithuku, Nyakang’o denied all charges and was released on a Sh2 million bond with a similar surety, or an alternative cash bail of Sh500,000.
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