GOVERNORS and the opposition have rubbished President Uhuru Kenyatta's corruption purge, and county heads insisted the Head of State should first tell his Deputy William Ruto to quit in the grand housecleaning.
They turned the anti-graft heat on the President yesterday, setting the stage for major confrontation by saying the Presidency — especially Ruto's office — has been dogged by sleaze and the DP's name should top the list of high-flying civil servants sent packing.
“Top political leaders and technocrats in the Presidency have been linked to acts of bribery and collusion to defraud the public of money, land, playgrounds, procurement, indecencies — you name it,” the Cord co-principals led by Moses Wetang'ula said.
Meru Governor Peter Munya sensationally claimed he would be the first to leave office if Ruto is brave enough to step aside, opening the way for investigations ordered on Thursday by President Uhuru in his State of the Nation address.
The governors also said Uhuru has no authority to tell elected governors to step aside and they have no intention of budging, whatever is contained in a confidential dossier.
Uhuru demanded that officials at all levels of government step aside if they are adversely mentioned in a confidential report by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission. This list is said to include as many as 50 top officials, and another 150 throughout the country. The President said he did not prejudge them and investigations would be swift.
“If the Deputy President leads the way, then I would also follow,” Munya declared during a joint press conference with Bomet Governor Isaac Ruto and their Turkana counterpart Josephat Nanok.
In a hard-hitting statement directed at Uhuru and his deputy, the leaders said top government officials mentioned in criminal cases should also leave office.
“Some of them are facing serious criminal charges in a global court. Why are they not stepping aside?” Munya said, in an apparent reference to Ruto who is fighting for his freedom political future at The Hague.
But the President fired back yesterday, warning governors to stop deluding themselves.
“The days when fighting corruption was limited to the revolving door at the EACC are gone forever!” Senior Director of Public Communication at State House Munyori Buku stated.
Munya, Rutto, Nanok, Migori Governor Okoth Obado, Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero and their Homa Bay counterpart Cyprian Awiti are said to be among the governors Uhuru wants to step aside.
In his address to Parliament on Thursday, Uhuru directed all Cabinet Secretaries, Principal Secretaries or Chief Executives of a state institution and even county governments named in a confidential dossier by the EACC to vacate office and await a probe.
Yesterday, Rutto, Kidero, Nanok and Obado said they have not been under any probe whatsoever from the EACC.
“There is no corruption in my government. These are mere allegations and I allow the relevant authorities to come and carry out investigations into the claims,” Obado said..
Governors and the Cord top brass were offended the confidential dossier was sent to the President only and not to Parliament, as they said is required by law.
Governor Rutto said that it was suspicious the report was only given to Uhuru by EACC Chief Executive Officer Halakhe Waqo and not the entire board.
“Is the President the MD of EACC to take the report to Parliament? That report ceases to be an anti-corruption report, it's his story," Rutto said, insisting the anti-graft agency should send its report directly to the National Assembly.
Cord said Jubilee's famous “Sky Team” is conspicuously absent from the controversial, but not publicly released list. The team is linked to the presidency and its members fly around the country, donating millions to harambees, tapping funds from inflated tender prices, Cord leaders said.
“We have serious objections to a supposedly independent anti-corruption agency that secretly submits a list of alleged corruption suspects to the President, which the President then proceeds to table in Parliament in limited copies available only to the two speakers who are from his side of the coalition,” Wetang'ula said.
“Why do we oppose this? Simple. The President is himself is not above reproach or above investigation. The President is a potential client of the EACC over corruption."
The Cord team also protested that IEBC boss Isaac Hassan had not been named in the list over the Sh50 million ChickenGate scandal involving bribes paid by a British printing company to secure contracts to print election materials.
“So much is going on in the Ministry of Devolution, particularly at the NYS and the Ministry of Health, where tenders go to the best of friends and highest bidders, yet the President is playing favourites,” the Cord team said.
The Opposition said Uhuru offers apologies for past State crimes and offers money for the sins of the past, while allegedly making no attempt to return to the public what was stolen from them by past regimes, including large swathes of land all over the republic.