Speaker Justin Muturi Bashes Trade and Agriculture Committees for Being Too Friendly

National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi on Thursday took issue with members of the Trade and Agriculture Committees who tabled their reports on the importation of contraband sugar.

Speaker Muturi accused the Members of Parliament (MPs) of being too friendly with the suspects during their meetings by going as far as exchanging pleasantries with them.

According to Speaker Muturi, Chair Kanini Kega and his team were derailed from the goals of their mandate after they hugged and kissed the suspects who appeared before them.

"This thing of...when you engaged in hugging and kissing you missed the point, you went off tangent," the speaker noted.

[caption caption="West Kenya Sugar Company Chairman Jaswant Rai exchanges pleasantries with members of the joint Trade and Agriculture committee"][/caption]

The preliminary report offered by the joint committee caused heated debates in the House as MPs agitated to have a clear answer to whether or not sugar was laced with mercury.

"Mr Speaker I am a very sad man. We gave a joint committee the work, used public resources for over two weeks and the kind of recommendations I'm seeing here even in some county assemblies such recommendations are not found

"At least this afternoon we expected one definite answer that the sugar citizens are consuming has no mercury.

"Mr Speaker from the recommendation that reads 'however, investigations are ongoing' offer no conclusive answer as to whether there is mercury in the sugar," Leader of Majority Aden Duale lamented.

A frustrated Kanini Kega cautioned the MPs not to castigate the committee given that the report offered was only preliminary.

He further asked the majority leader to retract his statement alleging that the report was not even fit to be tabled at a county assembly.

Speaker Muturi directed the committee to prepare a comprehensive report for the House that would be tabled after they return from recess.

 

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