- Health PS Susan Mochache unable to explain why Mugendi is a member of JSC and still chairs the KUTRRH board
- Committee to summon Health CS Sicily Kariuki to explain the matter
A parliamentary committee will summon Health CS Sicily Kariuki and the Attorney General Paul Kihara Kariuki over Olive Mugenda's two public jobs.
Mugenda chairs the board of Kenyatta University Teaching, Referral & Research Hospital and is also a member of the Judicial Service Commission which, according to the Committee on Implementation, is unconstitutional.
The committee said on Wednesday that the former Kenyatta University vice-chancellor should have stopped chairing the KUTRRH board the moment she was appointed to the JSC.
“Mugenda is a JSC member. Why is she still holding another public office?” committee vice-chair Godfrey Osotsi asked.
The Constitution states that a member of a constitutional commission, unless ex- officio or part-time, shall not hold any other office or employment for profit, whether public or private.
Mugenda was sworn-in as a JCS commissioner alongside Patrick G. Gichohi, Koskei Felix Kiptarus and retired judge Kihara Kariuki in November last year.
Yesterday, Health Principal Secretary Susan Mochache told the committee that she was not in a position to explain the appointment but explained that the KUTRRH board had been expanded to adequately represent the interests of Kenyatta University.
Richard Moitalel ole Kenta, the parliamentary committee's chairman, complained of vested interests in the running and management of the hospital.
“Why should a member of a constitutional commission chair the board of the hospital?” he asked.
The committee also wanted to know why the hospital was turned into a state corporation.
The yet-to-be opened KUTRRH is a 650-bed capacity facility that will offer oncology, renal, trauma and orthopaedics services, among others.
Its construction started in 2012 when Mugenda was the KU vice-chancellor.
The Sh8 billion facility became a state corporation under the Health ministry after President Uhuru Kenyatta signed an order to that effect on January 22, this year.
Uhuru said the hospital will be run by a CEO and a board of management made up of a non-executive chairperson appointed by the President.
KUTRRH is the third Health ministry parastatal after Kenyatta National Hospital and Moi Teaching Referral Hospital in Eldoret.