Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i responded to members of the National Assembly after they threatened to impeach him for snubbing summons.
Matiang’i accused the lawmakers of abusing parliamentary privilege through intimidating members of other arms of government like himself.
He claimed that together with other officers from his ministry, he had appeared before one of the committees 39 times. He even had evidence to prove it.
“I have appeared before that one committee a record 39 times this year alone. I have all the records of my appearances and those of the officers from my ministry,” stated the CS while daring the lawmakers to bring the 60 questions he was reportedly supposed to answer.
He further explained that the legislators had a role of protecting those who did not have a platform to protect themselves from attack as it affected the functioning of other arms of the state.
“The leaders of Parliament must ensure that parliamentary privilege is not abused. They must protect those who do not have the platform to defend themselves from adverse attack by MPs, otherwise it will be very difficult for other arms of Government to work well.” he continued.
According to The Standard, the CS revealed a record of his appearances at the committee and files of the answers he provided accusing some MPs of taking advantage of their position to settle scores.
In a letter to National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi, Matiang’i accused him of letting legislators make false claims about him in a debate.
“Some of those who were strongly attacking me on the floor of the House are not even members who sit in the security committee,” Matiang’i stated.
MPs accused the CS of snubbing two summons by the National Security in which he was to answer 60 question including why prisons are still dilapidated despite the state allocating funds to the sector.
They had threatened to initiate the impeachment process if the Interior CS failed to show up for one last summon next week.
