Environment and Forestry Cabinet Secretary nominee Aden Duale on Friday revealed he intentionally declined to pick Teso South Member of Parliament Mary Emaase's calls during his time as Defence Minister over fears of being entangled in corruption.
Duale while appearing before the National Assembly's Committee on Appointments, clarified that he refused to pick up the MP's phone call as it had become a common practice among politicians to canvass on behalf of their constituents and friends to secure military slots.
"I am very sorry Honourable Emaase if I did not pick up your call because I was scared you would ask me to recruit somebody for you. It is the only recruitment I did under my leadership," Duale clarified.
In her defence, Emaase disclosed that she called Duale to seek clarification on why some of her constituents were being sent away from the recruitment centres for flimsy reasons.
"I wanted to seek clarification from the CS to tell me the guidelines for one to be recruited. Somebody who is resourceful was being chased away," alleged the MP.
“I wanted to secure the slots so that my constituents do not lose them and sadly my constituents lost the slots,” she added.
While commenting on the matter, Suna East MP Junet Mohamed backed Emaase's comments claiming corruption during the recruitment of the Kenya Defence Forces was a contentious issue that needed to be addressed.
In a rebuttal, Duale clarified that the recruitment of KDF officers into the military was different from police recruitment and noted the grounds for rejecting Emaase's constituents were valid.
"There are many leaders who sent me messages that their people had been chased away, and in ten minutes the leadership of KDF gave me the reasons why they chased away the individuals," Duale stated.
"They check even the teeth. The training for KDF officers is so vigorous that you don't risk to take somebody who will die in the course of the training," he added.
Meanwhile, the former Defence CS also denied claims of deploying the military to man the anti-government protesters, noting the order was in line with the constitutional provisions.
