•The multi-agency anti-corruption team has dismissed claims it is are targeting specific communities and individuals connected to the 2022 election politics.
•A section of Rift leaders said Uhuru is using the team to harass the Kalenjin community.
Image: JACK OWOUR
The multi-agency anti-corruption team has denied targeting specific communities and individuals connected to the 2022 succession politics in the war on corruption.
There have been claims that the fight against corruption is aimed at derailing Deputy President William Ruto's 2022 presidential bid. His allied claim he was systematically being targeted in the war on graft.
The team, formed in 2015 by President Uhuru Kenyatta to spearhead the fight against corruption, yesterday said it was not targeting anyone.
The task force is chaired by Attorney general Paul Kihara. Kihara said
disclosed that numerous conservatory court orders and vague laws have been the biggest hurdles in the graft war.
Kihara said claims they were targeting certain individuals from particular communities were "false and only serve to frustrate the efforts to slay the dragon of corruption".
“Politics is introduced by yourself and others who are in politics. We are blind like justice. We just do our work and where the investigation leads us is where we follow,” Kariuki said.
The team comprises DCI boss George Kinoti, DPP Noordin Haji, EACC boss Twalib Mbarak, Asset Recovery Agency director Muthoni Kamau and KRA’s director of Consumer Intelligence Githii Mburu.
Appearing before the Senate’s Justice and Legal Affairs Committee yesterday, the team said it has been working to stop wanton plundering of public resources.
“We are not in this game for politics to victimise any individual. We are working professionally and we have no personal interest other than to ensure that the rule of law and the Constitution is respected,” Kariuki said.
Haji said, “We are not targeting any community at all. We are trying to safeguard our interest as a country.”
The reaction came against the backdrop of intense criticism of the agencies by a section of Rift Valley politicians who claim the team was being used by President Uhuru Kenyatta to harass the Kelenjin community and frustrate Ruto’s 2022 presidential ambitions.
We are not targeting any community at all. We are trying to safeguard our interest as a countryDPP Noordin Hajji
On Tuesday, Nandi Governor Stephen Sang accused Uhuru of using his "errand boy" George Kinoti to harass the community.
“We will not allow you to use Kinoti and the DPP to fight political battles and we fear you are taking this country to the dogs,” Sang said.
The legislator said the President should stop "bastardising development projects in Rift Valley projects and harassing civil servants from the Kalenjin community".
But Kariuki warned politicians against "making reckless remarks" touching on the investigations of the high-profile corruption cases. Doing so, he said, interferes with the probe.
“It is good to be responsible in whatever we do. Sometimes we do so much danger making public some information that is not intended to be. It takes time, sacrifice, dedication and everything to investigate and prosecute these cases,” he said.
“If you want another position in 2022, you talk to us. You don’t have to kill all of our projects in the name of fighting corruption,” he said.
The DCI has intensified investigations into the alleged misappropriation of funds in the Sh21 billion dam projects in Elgeyo Marakwet. Senior government officials including National Treasury CS Henry Rotich has been grilled in connection with the matter.
Haji disclosed that besides the investigations into the Kamwarer and Arror dams, the DCI is also probing other dam projects in other parts of the country.
“We're not only going to concentrate on the two dams, but we are also going to central and other dams. We have noted there is something serious that needs to be addressed on how we enter financial agreements,” he said.
The team told the committee that the courts have been issuing conservatory orders barring it from prosecuting investigation cases involving high profile cases.
“The emerging jurisprudence where the courts seem to curtain connotational and statutory mandate of law enforcement and prosecution agencies is a dangerous one,” Mbarak said.
He said the lack of clear provision in law to compel corruption suspects to step aside to allow for conclusion of their cases has also dealt a blow to the fight.
He said allowing senior suspects under investigations to continue serving has led to interference and tampering with witnesses.
The team recommended radical amendment to Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act, Criminal Procedure Act, Evidence Act and other laws strengthen the agencies to fight the vice.