Wetangula Intervenes After Azimio Corner Njuguna Ndung'u – Kenyans.co.ke
Treasury Cabinet Secretary Cabinet Secretary nominee Prof Njuguna Ndung’u on Tuesday, October 18, appeared before the National Assembly Selection Committee. The successive daunting questions at the time occasionally called for the intervention of Speaker Moses Wetangula who chairs the committee on appointments.
Whilst his academic credentials and curriculum vitae were remarkably enviable, the former Central Bank of Kenya Governor was on the receiving end as members of the committee went after him, combing through his past.
His days at the helm of the CBK came back to haunt him, with members challenging him to explain some of the scandals during his tenure and how they affected his suitability for the job.
To begin with, Kikuyu MP and Leader of Majority Kimani Ichung’wah put the nominee to task on allegations that several banks collapsed during his tenure.
Further, Ichung’wah questioned the nominee’s involvement in the controversial sale of the Grand Regency Hotel and the award of a security tender worth Ksh1.2 billion.
“You have indicated that you have served as CBK Governor. I would like to know how many banks collapsed under your watch as CBK governor,” Kimani Ichung’wah asked.
“Do you think with such allegations you will be the man who will inspire confidence in our economy?” he added.
On his part, the Leader of Minority Opiyo Wandayi sought clarification from the nominee on the award of the country’s currency printing contract to Dela Rue during his tenure.
“Unfortunately, despite your stellar records in academia your long stint in the CBK on the face of it leaves a lot to be desired. It seems like during his time at CBK, every mega project was faced by matters of corruption, “Wandayi raised.
Suna East MP Junet Mohammed also joined in putting the record of Prof Njuguna Ndung’u under scrutiny. Junet revisited a matter where the former CBK Governor was accused of colluding with commercial banks to weaken the Kenyan Shilling.
According to Junet, the monetary policies adopted by the CBK led to the collapse of the shilling and consequently ranked as the worst-performing currency in the world.
“Your failure to protect the shilling, coupled with your fiscal policies show massive repatriation of dollars from Kenya with money markets which collapsed the shilling, with all these failures, what makes you attractive to steer our economy?” Junet asked.
Saboti MP Caleb Amisi also challenged the candidate’s wealth declaration which he stated was in the region of Ksh950 million. However, Speaker Moses Wetangula jumped in defence of the nominee and ruled that members were not allowed to make assumptions about the wealth of the candidates.
The speaker further advised Prof Ndung’u to answer the questions directly, without diverting to other details that could not be substantiated before the committee.
In his defence, Prof Ndung’u stated that his move to liquidate the commercial banks was aimed at saving them from collapsing. Further, the good professor stated that he had challenged some of the allegations in court and was subsequently cleared.
According to him, the allegations were unfairly targeted at him by individuals who wanted him out of the CBK through the criminal justice system. He also added that some of the said banks collapsed after his exit from the CBK.
“I was governor of the CBK from March 2007 to 2013. That does not mean that there were no challenges. We want to stop at the first point of just mentioning what it is we do not want to go further and see what has happened.
The case for example of the procurement- I fought it through the courts to the Court of Appeal and there was a judgement,” Prof Ndung’u stated.
