Nandi Hills MP Alfred Keter yesterday said a decision by the EACC to clear former Devolution CS Anne Waiguru of corruption claims is suspicious.
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission has told Head of the Public Service Joseph Kinyua in a confidential letter obtained by the Star that there is no evidence so far linking Waiguru with the Sh791 million loss at the National Youth Service.
“We don't have EACC, it has become part of the Executive. Anyone the Executive wants cleared, the commission will do so and those to be implicated, the commission will also do that.
“I filed a motion of no confidence against Waiguru with clear evidence, but EACC did not even call some of us to present them with evidence,” Keter said.
His motion to impeach Waiguru late last year was rejected by National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi and the second attempt overtaken by her resignation as CS in November.
The first-term MP said he was concerned the commission is fast losing public confidence in the fight against corruption, especially after it appeared to clear Waiguru of any wrongdoing in the loss of funds at the NYS.
Yesterday Keter promised to file a petition in Parliament seeking to have all EACC staff vetted afresh.
Addressing a press conference at Parliament Buildings, Keter claimed the EACC had become a “temple of corruption”.
“EACC is now a failed institution. It has become a toll station; instead of investigating possible crimes, they ask for bribes,” Keter said.
“We have lost money at NYS, some of us have evidence. . . . If EACC were interested in evidence and witness statements, then they should have interrogated some of us who have evidence that involves Waiguru directly in what happened,” he said.
“There are a lot of files in the commission. Why the rush to clear Waiguru? There are some people whose files have not been cleared since March 2014,” he said in relation to President Uhuru Kenyatta’s List of Shame dossier linking 175 government officials, including five Cabinet Secretaries who have since left office, to corruption.
The EACC Secretariat was supposed to have concluded their investigations of the officials by June 2015.
“This institution must be aboveboard, but what is happening is the opposite,” Keter added.
Keter also asked why the EACC opted to write to Kinyua, instead of forwarding the findings to Director of Public Prosecutions Kariako Tobiko for his action.