Kenya Ambassador-designate to Russia Dr Peter Mathuki is facing a probe over graft and abuse of office during his tenure as EAC Secretary General.
This comes after the East African Legislative Assembly’s committee on Legal, Rules and Privileges was on May 14 urged to investigate the former EAC boss after documents were tabled before the Assembly by Kennedy Mukulia, MP, South Sudan.
In his submission to the committee, Mukulia said Mathuki abused principles of good governance, accountability, and adherence to the rule of law, as stipulated in the EAC Treaty.
“The documents laid on the table demonstrate impunity, gross abuse of office, disregard for the Treaty and other Community Legal Instruments, indicating grand corporate irresponsibility and mismanagement of the affairs of the Community by an individual, the immediate former Secretary General, who is by law, the accounting officer of the Community,” Mukulia submitted.
Corruption allegations against Mathuki were laid bare during the third Meeting Second Session of the 5th Assembly in March, 2024 in Nairobi, Kenya.
EALA legislators asked President William Ruto to remove the Secretary General, which he obliged in his changes to foreign service.
During the meeting Mukulia tabled documents containing damning allegations of gross corruption and abuse of office against the office of the Secretary General.
Consequently, EALA Speaker Joseph Ntakuritimana referred the documents to the committee on Legal, Rules and Privileges, a committee charged with the responsibility of investigating non-compliance with the provisions of the Treaty.
Mathuki is accused of irregularly employing and redeploying staff at the Arusha Secretariat.
IRREGULAR HIRINGS
Mukulia said the persons recruited between 2021 and March 8, 2024 in Nyerere Centre for Peace and Research (Administrator-Everlyn Odoro), USAID Liason Officer (Brian Kalekye), Communications (Lilian Kiarie), Projects (Project Assistant-Office of the Secretary General (Silvester Kilungya) show a clear abuse of authority, impunity and utter disregard for the staff Rules and Regulations and Principles of recruitment by “irregularly recruiting relatives, friends and girlfriends into the service of the community”.
In his submission, Mukulia argued that, the staff Rules and Regulations provide for advertising, constituting of Panels for shortlisting, shortlisting and interviewing and appointment and that the above-mentioned positions and individuals were not advertised, there is no recruitment report.
He requested the Committee to establish how those individuals were identified to fill these positions, and how these positions were negotiated, and included in the EAC projects.
The documents also raised the issue of creation of separate payrolls to accommodate payments for individuals who were irregularly recruited and approval for staff entitlements, including settlement allowances, and payment of arrears fabricated by officers within the secretariat.
Mukulia urged the committee to investigate and establish the officers who created additional patrol structures and on whose authority.
“The Committee needs to establish those who collaborated in this impunity,” Mukulia said.
Mathuki is also accused of seeking direct close protection security and driver from the Kenya Police and the Arusha Regional Police in 2021, whereas the Treaty provides tha the Secretary General should contact partner state agencies through the Ministries of EAC Affairs.
The former secretary general is also accused of redeployment of Staff and assigning functions of staff to consultants, and that whenever he faced resistance of his regular policies or intentions, the staff were either redeployed, or had their functions assigned to others who would collaborate.
“In some instances, a private communication firm whose ownership is close to the former Secretary General was hired to take over the functions of EAC Communications Department without the Approval of the Council,” Mukulia said.
MISMANAGEMENT OF PEACE FUND
Mathuki further faces accusations around the management of the EAC Peace Fund Facility Fund.
The documents tabled before the committee show the Directorate of Finance was spending funds whose utilization was never disclosed to the Assembly as required by the Treaty and Financial Rules and Regulations since 2022.
“This means that, the Accounting Officer, the Director of Finance, the Principal Accountant and the Senior Budget Officer, “conspired to create and operate a separate and parallel budget process that is not within Article 132 and Part V of the Financial Rules and Regulations (on utilization of financial resources)”, the documents say.
According to Mukulia, the Audit Commission and the Internal Audit Unit in their report found that all the expenditure under the Peace Facility was irregular, and he asked the Committee to establish the alleged accounts/funds that have been opened/closed and utilized by the former Secretary General without approval of the Council and the Assembly and the officers responsible for this impunity.
In December 2022, retired President and DRC peace facilitator Uhuru Kenyatta, who nominated Mathuki for the EAC post, accused the organisers in Nairobi of stealing delegates allowances.
Without mentioning names, Uhuru said the organisers of the Nairobi Three Process peace talks made underhand dealings and shortchanged the participants.
“Our people who we know and are the organisers, know that we have enough funds because I was part of the people who were raising it. The funds do not belong to them but it is to bring peace in Congo,” he said.
During Mathuki’s tenure, the Directorate of Finance faces accusations of inventing travels to receive Daily Subsistence Allowance. For instance, documents show the Director of Finance approved travel for the Principal Accountant, Senior Budget Officer and Senior Accountant to attend a “fictious budget session of EALA in March 2024 in Nairobi”, while he was in Nairobi for the same activity, when clearly the session in Nairobi at the time.
The documents also showed an irregular imprest as according to Mukulia, the Assembly has never authorized and allocate imprest to the Secretary General of between $5,000 to $20,000 every time he travelled.
Mathuki has, however, denied the allegations, terming them “baseless, malicious, unfounded and an attempt on assassinating the character of the Secretary General”.
The Legal, Rules and Privileges Committee of EALA will consider the evidence and will investigate the allegations made and is expected to submit its findings and recommendations to EALA.
