Kenyan Lawmakers Call on Finance Minister to Resign (Correct)
By Eric Ombok
(Corrects typographical error in headline.)
July 2 (Bloomberg) --
Kenya's parliament passed a motion of no confidence against Finance Minister
Amos Kimunya and demanded his resignation for disregarding the country's public procurement and disposal laws, a lawmaker said.
The vote of no confidence comes amid an investigation into the secret sale by the government of the Grand Regency Hotel in the capital, Nairobi. Two weeks after denying it, Kimunya said on June 27 the hotel had been sold.
``This house censures the minister and resolves it has no confidence in him and demands his immediate resignation,'' Bonny Khalwale, chairman of parliament's public accounts committee, said in a statement today. The remarks were broadcast on national television.
Prime Minister
Raila Odinga yesterday asked Attorney General
Amos Wako to investigate the sale of the hotel. The purchase of the establishment was funded with the proceeds of a 1990s corruption scandal, known as Goldenberg, according to the
Central Bank of Kenya.
The Grand Regency was secretly sold for 1.85 billion shillings ($28.3 million) to a locally registered company, Land Minister
James Orengo told reporters late yesterday.
Wako's report is expected to be considered in a meeting of Kenya's Cabinet tomorrow. President
Mwai Kibaki has the power to fire Kimunya should he decline to stand down.
Kimunya didn't immediately respond to a message left on his mobile phone seeking comment.
The Goldenberg scandal in the 1990s involved payments by the government to Goldenberg International, a Kenyan company, to subsidize fake gold and diamond exports. The scheme cost the government an estimated $1 billion
To contact the reporter on this story:
Eric Ombok in Nairobi via Johannesburg at
pmrichardson@bloomberg.net.