Arrest Josephine Kabura and present her to Parliament within 48 hours so she can give testimony, a parliamentary committee has ordered Inspector General Joseph Boinnet.
Kabura is a key suspect in the Sh791 million NYS scandal being probed by the National Assembly Public Accounts Committee. The arrest order was issued after Kabura snubbed the committee for the third consecutive time, despite summons.
She was supposed to appear before the Nicholas Gumbo-led committee yesterday morning. Kabura is accused of being the lead conduit whose account was used to channel Sh1.8 billion stolen from the NYS.
The committee members did not take kindly the decision by Kabura to snub them. Her lawyer FI Omino wrote to the committee, explaining that her client could not appear because she cannot be traced.
The members said Kabura is a key witness and must be compelled by all means to appear before them. “The witness has been a very difficult one to deal with and very difficult to reach, as her mobile phone number is ever switched off. I will now write to the IG and force her to appear before us,” Gumbo said. “It’s unfortunate she has failed to appear before us again. We can’t conclude without her input.”
Timothy Bosire (Kitutu Masaba) said by failing to appear before the committee, Kabura has waived her right to be heard by the committee before the final report is written as the committee enters the homestretch.
“This is an ordinary citizen who has done extraordinary things as far as this NYS scandal is concerned. It is important that we meet her and hear her side,” Bosire said. “We should not waste a lot of time thinking of what to do, let’s instruct the IG to produce her before us.” Balambala MP Abdikadir Aden echoed Bosire’s statement.