DEPUTY President William Ruto has declared that President Uhuru Kenyatta was unfair to the five Cabinet Secretaries suspended and then dropped over corruption allegations.
Charity Ngilu (Lands), Davis Chirchir (Energy), Kazungu Kambi (Labour), Michael Kamau (Transport) and Felix Koskei (Agriculture) were part of 175 individuals whose names Kenyatta tabled in Parliament in March and told to step aside to facilitate graft investigations.
While some were cleared by the EACC, others were charged in court. Among those cleared like Koskei were relieved of their duties.
Ruto, who appeared on the Citizen TV programme Events 2015, hosted by Hussein Mohamed on Sunday night, said the law requires those implicated to undergo due process. He maintained the five CSs were dismissed on the basis of mere allegations.
Hussein Mohamed: What should be the right thing to do when an allegation is made against someone? We had CSs suspended on the basis of allegations and cases are going on up to now. Some have been cleared but have not been reinstated. That is clearly destroying their names isn't it? Is that being fair to them?
Deputy President Ruto: You have said it. I don’t think we are being fair to them, but we have a duty as government. Some cases are still going on, but we have a government to run, we need men and women to run ministries. To stay without a minister for eight months to a year is very punitive for that ministry because you need to sign things and ensure there is strategic leadership in the ministries.
The DP further maintained that it is the prerogative of the appointing authority “whether you have been cleared or not to make a decision whether you will serve in government or not, but that is not to pass judgment that you are guilty or corrupt regarding the allegations.”
“The institutions responsible exist and they will do their job. They [the CSs] can go on with their lives because they have been proven not to be corrupt – the only thing they don’t have is the job they had,” Ruto said.
Ruto also categorically defended his chief of staff, Maryanne Kitany, over allegations that she was the one behind the failed censure motion against former Devolution CS Anne Waiguru.
The DP said that there was no way she could have spent Sh100 million on MPs to censure Waiguru, noting that is the reason she will be cleared by the responsible governance agencies.
“For your information that is all hogwash. There was nothing like that. Have you heard anything of the investigations against her? From where I sit, unless miracles happen, it is not possible that she could have spent the amount for that endeavour. But let’s wait and see the outcome,” the DP said.
He continued: “That she spent those millions on MPs . . . but do you know what it takes to even get a shilling from the government coffers? She is not an accounting officer, she doesn't sign cheques, she has no authority to do anything.”