National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi has suspended operations of the Public Accounts Committee for 21 days over corruption allegations.
Muturi said this would allow an integrity probe into the allegations directed at the chairman of the committee, Ababu Namwamba.
The speaker said the Powers, Privileges Committee was going to determine whether PAC would continue exercising its oversight mandate amid graft claims.
He appointed Kuresoi MP Moses Cheboi on Thursday, to chair the probe team and directed that the report be submitted to him once that period elapses.
This comes after fourteen out of 24 PAC members voted for Ababu Namwamba’s retention as chairman.
ODM Mp’s opposed to Ababu insisted that he had failed to boost the opposition’s profile in the war on graft.
Three in PAC – Omondi Anyanga, Abbas Mohammed and Andrew Mwadime – had ganged up with Jubilee legislators to remove him.
Several PAC members filed the no-confidence motion against the firebrand lawmaker.
They questioned Ababu and several committee members’ integrity and conduct.
Among the grounds were pocketing millions in bribes to alter reports likely to indict high-flying State officers.
Ababu further faced accusations over the manner in which he handled investigations into the affairs of the Judicial Service Commission.
He was also accused of leaking the PAC’s reports to the media before they are tabled in the House.
His accusers cited the report on the hiring of a jet by Deputy President William Ruto, later nicknamed ‘the hustler jet’, that was reported by the press before release.
Ababu has denied the allegations claiming impunity is fighting back.
