Nairobi County Assembly Speaker Benson Mutura has criticised the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission’s bid to stop the appointment of Paul Mutunga as the deputy governor.
Mutura questioned where the EACC was when the advert for the nomination was done and the seven-day period designated for public participation.
“We undertook public participation and advertised but the EACC never even bothered to respond. They only objected later when the assembly had cleared the nominee,” said Mutura.
Mutura said EACC’s letter had been overtaken by events as the county assembly has already vetted and approved his appointment.
He said if EACC had issues they would have said so beforehand.
In a letter to Nairobi County Assembly Speaker, the anti-graft commission boss Twalib Mbarak opposed Mutunga’s nomination.
EACC said that the assembly was considering Mutunga’s nomination without any reference to the commission regarding his integrity suitability pursuant to Chapter six of the Constitution.
The agency cites a pending graft case against Mutunga as the key reason for their stance.
“The commission wishes to bring to your attention that the nominee was charged in Milimani Anti-Corruption Court, file number ACC8/2019 with corruption offences committed in Nairobi County Government, which include unlawful acquisition of public property, money laundering, conspiracy to commit an offence of corruption and dealing with suspect property,” said Mbarak in the letter.
“In view of the above, the commission objects to the nomination of Mutunga as the Deputy Governor, and advises the Assembly and Governor to reconsider the nomination.”