President Kenyatta, his deputy William Ruto and ODM leader Raila Odinga’s caution to friends and associates accused of corruption highlights their burden to a public weary of official protection to graft lords.
The latest scandal to rock the Jubilee administration involves Covid-19 funds and has been blamed on individuals with connections in high places, prompting the declaration by the President and Mr Odinga that those found culpable won’t be spared, regardless of their status.
Over the years, the government has not succeeded in resolving several other scandals that include the Itare and Kimwarer dams, National Youth Service, mobile clinics and Ruaraka land.
Although not proven, claims that prominent figures benefited from Covid-19 by supplying personal protective equipment at inflated prices have prompted the President and Mr Odinga to publicly declare that no one will enjoy their patronage, with the deputy president curiously suggesting a cover-up.
“The perpetrators of this heist are lucky they do not carry the tag ‘Ruto allies’, otherwise they would have taken political responsibility, stepped aside, written statements, companies investigated, individuals arrested and hauled to court,” the DP remarked in response to Raila’s call for a forensic audit.
On August 24, the ODM leader had pledged his party would not shield anyone. The President has ordered investigations into the alleged theft in 21 days. His close ally David Murathe has denied involvement in the controversial Kemsa tender. But Mr Murathe sought to turn tables on the DP.
“We have evidence that shares of one of the companies at the centre of the probe were transferred to partners of the DP to facilitate the funding for importation of the kits. The shares were transferred to them by a Kenyan and a Chinese businessman,” Mr Murathe alleged.
Anti-corruption czar John Githongo said the graft burden is an inescapable load the President, the ODM boss and the DP will have to carry. President Kenyatta’s anti-graft record will be judged harshly, he suggests.
“The problem with President Kenyatta’s fight against corruption is the disconnect between his rhetoric and action. He is by far the most articulate leader in post-independence Kenyan history against graft, but he has overseen the most corrupt regime,” Mr Githongo said.
“It becomes increasingly difficult for him (Uhuru) to go above this when reports of very close family members of his are mentioned in corrupt dealings,” he claims.
In the lead-up to 2022 elections, Mr Githongo asserts, politicians will abuse huge polls-related procurement deals as they dip their hands into public coffers.
He explains: “All of Kenya’s big scandals around corruption have happened just before an election. It’s an issue that remains unresolved here and elsewhere. Here, people use the excuse of mobilising resources for the elections to loot public coffers. Usually, large public procurement deals are done just before elections, and these are usually prone to massive corruption.”
Political commentator Mark Bichachi suggests the DP’s recent stand on corruption allegations in the use of Covid-19 funds is a strategy geared towards 2022.
“Ruto is trying to achieve two things with the new anti-corruption talks: Remove corruption as an issue in the 2022 election by saying ‘look, even the other side is not clean at all’,” Bichachi argues.
“And two, as an insurance against possible future arrests by saying ‘I called out corruption there and they never caught them, why do they now want to catch me?”
Since 2010, 824 high-ranking officials in government including Cabinet Secretaries, governors, and MPs have been arraigned in corruption-related cases.
The President has often accused the Judiciary of frustrating the war on corruption, but Chief Justice David Maraga counters it’s the prosecution that presents shoddy cases.
Still, Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji celebrates some of the cases as momentous. He singles out those involving Samburu governor Moses Lenolkulal and Nairobi’s Mike Sonko, who have been barred from accessing offices.
Sirisia MP John Waluke’s 67-year jail sentence and an order to refund nearly Sh1 billion is a historic win.
