Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i has fought off Members of Parliament (MP) over telling lies during the recently concluded sugar probe.
The Interior CS who was among the first to whistleblow the said contamination of sugar with mercury has revealed that the MPs never summoned him.
Contrary to earlier reports by the joint parliamentary committee investigating the sugar scandal, the CS has indicated that he was never requested to appear before the legislators on the last day of the investigations.
[caption caption="Interior CS Fred Matiang'i"]
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"There is no letter inviting me to appear before the committee yesterday, neither did I express any wish to appear before them.
"I have already appeared before the committee and told them whatever I wanted to say, I was not going to say anything different on Thursday. They should stop playing games and give Kenyans the report they are waiting for," Matiang’i stated.
His sentiments contradict those of the committee's co-chair and Kieni MP Kanini Kega who had indicated that Matiang'i was set and willing to appear for questioning.
Kega who chairs the Trade and Investments committee had indicated that the CS and the Chief Government Chemist, Ali Gakweli were to appear on Thursday to shed more light on a controversial report on the sugar probe prepared by the government chemist.
The Chief Government Chemist had confirmed the presence of mercury from samples of sugar imported into the country.
However, his report seems to have raised controversy with the MPs allegedly being reluctant to include the information in their final findings of the investigations.
On his part, Kanini has distanced himself from the earlier remarks in the committee he co-chairs with the Agriculture and Livestock committees chair Adan Haji Ali.
[caption caption="Kieni MP Kanini Kega"]
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"We never invited the CS because the committee has no interest in him. It is you the media that invited him," Kanini is quoted.
Quoting a member of the committee, the Nation notes that there are concerns over possible compromise of the investigations: "The two are being remote controlled to defeat the purpose of this committee. We are suspecting money could have exchanged hands".
