President Kenyatta has been told to shift from the handshake to handcuffs in the fight against corruption.
ANC party leader Musalia Mudavadi said this is the direction that should be taken because corruption has reached levels never witnessed in the country and must be fought.
Mudavadi stated that people don’t want to see small stories about an officer in KRA being interdicted; they want to see the people behind mega-scandals arraigned to answers for the crimes.
“The degree of impunity is alarming and we are constantly appealing to the President, because they say the buck stops with him. He should speak less about the issues relating to corruption and act more.Our simple clarion call is, ‘Mr. President toa pingu’ [get out the handcuffs],” he said.
Mudavadi noted the focus is being lost on corruption because politicians have been attacking institutions fighting the vice.
Mudavadi questioned how a top leader in government who is also a member of Jubilee Party could up with a plot to undercut the DCI and even change laws to reduce his efficiency.
“So what is the President saying and what is a member of his party saying? This kind of conflicts are not helping in the fight against corruption," he said.
He said there was a need for a collective approach to fight against corruption.
The party leader supported the call by Catholic bishops for an intensified war on corruption.
He urged church leaders to continue speaking out more on corruption because they are the moral compass of society.
“We are continuously calling upon the church to put their best foot forward so that we can all fight corruption for the betterment of our country," he said.
Mudavadi said it is sad that Kenya is facing an economic crisis due to corruption.
The public debt, he said, is very alarming and the country is on a dangerous path.
“We started talking about this matter way back in 2015 but people did not see the magnitude of this matter. But now it has caught up with us,” he said.
