Bahati MP Kamau Ngunjiri has urged the media to shift attention to the government's utilisation of the COVID-19 emergency funds kitty.
In a long message on his social media platforms on Monday, March 13, the MP questioned where the government had taken the funds contributed towards the kitty given that there was not much to show for it.
"The Kenya COVID-19 Emergency Funds Board is in place and contributions towards the funds have started. The Central Bank of Kenya gave Ksh 7.4 billion towards the kitty. World Bank has given Ksh 5 billion, Ksh 2 billion recovered from proceeds of corruption has also been injected for the same purpose.
"Corporates have also made donations for example Co-operative Bank of Kenya has given Ksh 100 million. This has happened yet people don’t have masks and the government has issued directives that no one should go to public places without a mask.
"Can the media ask what is happening because we have money but people are relying on very low quality and risky masks which are being sold to them at twice the cost at which the government can avail the masks to the people? Why do we have to depend on well-wishers, mostly the MPs to donate foodstuffs to the vulnerable?" he questioned.
The MP further alleged a sinister ploy by the Presidency to frustrate MPs and Senators to stop them from executing their mandate, a matter that he alleged had started long before the pandemic.
He insisted that the National Assembly has always been open to reconvening to discuss emergencies such as the pandemic but that the president had frustrated those efforts through an alleged intent not to work with both Houses.
"The blame squarely falls on the Presidency and not parliament. Parliament has its own calendar but can be reconvened on matters that require to be addressed urgently, like what we are going through now.
"Even before the outbreak of the pandemic, it was apparent that the president didn’t want to work with parliament and the senate so what makes the media speculate that the President has changed his mind and now would like working with parliament?" he posed.
Ngunjiri further insisted that the MPs had made plans long before to meet but as the date drew close, the government moved in with haste and restricted movement in the guise of fighting the pandemic.
While he admitted that the move was key in fighting the pandemic, he opined that the timing was suspect and engineered to hamper the Houses' efforts to hold the government accountable.
"Two days to when we would have had a special sitting, the president issued orders restricting movement in and out of Nairobi Metropolitan areas as well as the Coastal Strip. The order restricting the movement was issued on 6 April 2020 and was to take effect from 7:00 PM the same day.
"Parliament was to have a special sitting on 8 April 2020 and this movement’s restriction made the sitting not possible. Although the restriction of movement decree is important in the fight against Coronavirus, a subtle intention of scuttling parliament and senate business through the same can be inferred," he sensationally alleged.
