Security scare as stranger gets near Kibaki in Parliament

An amazing security breach saw a stranger tag onto the end of a procession into Parliament and sit only feets away from President Kibaki during the State Opening of the House.

Mr Peter Mwai, an estate agent, sat among Appeal and High Court judges and next to Catholic Archbishop Ndingi Mwana a'Nzeki - only six feet from the President - during the two-hour ceremony on Tuesday.

But he insists that he was in Parliament on invitation. Mr Mwai told the Nation last night that he had done nothing wrong. He described the whole incident as a comedy of errors that started when he received an invitation to attend the State Opening.

"I was given the card by the Clerk to the National Assembly Mr Samuel Ndindiri. The card allowed me to observe the proceedings from the Public Gallery," he said.

Earlier Mr Mwai wandered around Parliament building, mingling with MPs in their private dining room and to the rooms where Kenya's seniormost clergy sat before entering the Chamber to hear the President's speech.

It was to the end of the clergy's procession that Mr Mwai - conspicuous in a pale cream suit - tagged and walked unobstructed through security checks and into the heart of Parliament, the debating Chamber itself.

Yesterday Speaker Francis ole Kaparo expressed shock and disbelief at what he called "a terrible security breach". He assured MPs that Parliamentary officials who allowed the lapse "would be dealt with accordingly".

Said Mr Kaparo: "For the 11 years I have been on this chair, I have not seen anything like that. I am shocked that anything like that could happen.'' 

He directed that Mr Mwai should be found and held at Parliament police station.

Mr Mwai told the Nation last night that he would this morning present himself to the police, but soon after leaving Nation Centre, he was picked up by seven policemen in plain clothes.

He said that he had gone the Clerk's office to change his seating from the Public Gallery to the more prestigious Speaker's Gallery.

"When l got to Mr Ndindiri's office, he was not there and l spoke to an officer, who showed me to the room where the religious leaders were waiting. I waited with them for a short while before we were told to proceed to the chamber, take our seats and await the President's arrival," he said.

The Parliamentary security personnel questioned him after the official opening was over, but when he showed them his invitation card, they let him go. "I even went to the garden party! Why are they now looking for me?"

Mr Mwai did not sit with the spiritual leaders, but instead chose a seat on the back row in line with the President's chair, reserved for judges, wearing their red, white and grey robes.

Before taking his eat, Mr Mwai stopped to shake hands and chat for a moment with the Leader of Official Opposition, Mr Uhuru Kenyatta, whose seat is on the way to the judges' area.

Mr Mwai who was said to have contested unsuccessfully the Makuyu Parliamentary seat - now Maragwa in Murang'a - had earlier been seen in the MPs dining room where Starehe Narc MP Maina Kamanda treated him to lunch. 

Mr Kamanda said: "I saw him in the dining room and he asked me to buy him lunch. I do not know how he came to into Parliament or even enter the Chamber."

Mr Kamanda said he thought Mr Mwai had been invited to the State Opening like any other guest who sat in the Speakers' Gallery.

He continued: "I know the man very well and saw him when he came to the dining room." But he said he expressed surprise when Mr Mwai told him he had been given a seat in the Chamber.

"I found it strange and thought to myself that I should raise the matter with the Clerk,'' said Mr Kamanda before the matter was raised in the House.

The MP said he knew Mr Mwai well as an estate agent and added that his wife, Mrs Jane Mwai, was a preacher mainly around Nairobi's River Road area.

There was anxiety and disbelief when it was revealed that chief Government whip Norman Nyagah had reported Mr Mwai's presence to Parliamentary security after he was pointed out to him by some MPs.

Mr Nyagah said he reported the matter to the Deputy Chief Serjeant-at-Arms when he spotted Mr Mwai who he said was an estate agent with an office in the city centre's Rehani House.

The issue of the stranger was raised by Voi MP Boniface Mghanga, minutes before MPs began to debate the President's speech.

The Kanu MP asked whether the Speaker was aware that a stranger had made his way into the House during a Presidential function. He wanted an assurance that action would be taken against those who allowed such a lapse in security. Mr Kaparo confirmed the incident saying he was informed of it by Mr Mghanga after the morning Parliamentary sitting.

The Speaker expressed shock that a stranger could break through the security cordon and find his way into the Chambers to sit near the President.

He said he had ordered the Clerk to the National Assembly, Mr Samuel Ndindiri to investigate and ensure Mr Mwai was arrested so his purpose in entering the House could be known.

Mr Kaparo said he would "deal firmly with all those involved".