• Rotich and Thugge pensively followed the proceedings in court.
• The duo face a bleak future if they are convicted of graft.
Image: ENOS TECHE
The country's chief money men successfully weathered the mega Sh250 billion Eurobond storm four years ago.
Despite an onslaught from then-opposition leaders, led by former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, who said that "Kenyans had been looted in the name of Eurobond," the National Treasury stood firm and parried the claims.
No money had been lost, they said, but they couldn't quite pinpoint the specific projects on which the money was spent.
Last year, Treasury CS Henry Rotich again found himself on shaky ground over the sugar import scandal. He faced tough questions on the importation of contraband sugar. Again, he survived.
He was winning all his battles, or so it seemed. And just when he might have thought he was done and dusted with corruption allegations, more trouble came his way — the Arror and Kimwarer dams scandal.
They were charged on Tuesday with numerous counts of abuse of office in connection with the Kimwarer dam.
It will be the highest prosecution in the war on corruption.
Will Rotich and his PS Kamau Thugge overcome the legal hurdle this time around?
Are they the proverbial cats with nine lives?
They've never been in court before — it must have been humiliation.
Rotich and Thugge, the two highest-ranking men running the show at the National Treasury — would appear to be out of a job.
President Uhuru Kenya has said he would only remove a Cabinet secretary if he or she had been charged with corruption, not merely tainted, not merely facing allegations.
Rotich's illustrious civil service career dramatically crashed on Tuesday alongside that of Thugge.
Despite hanging on for months as the graft allegations swirled around them, the two men chose to submit to due process as they were arraigned over the Kamwerer Dam on which billions had been spent.
Ordinarily, Rotich and Thugge would be busy signing cheques and approving multimillion-dollar payments in their elegant offices at the Treasury Building along Harambee Avenue, Nairobi.
However, the two soft-spoken mandarins, who rose through the ranks to control the purse strings at the National Treasury, were humbled on Tuesday one of Kenya's most monumental prosecutions.
Used with being chauffeured in limousines complete with chase cars, enjoying traffic clearance by virtue of their powerful dockets, the top men at Treasury were driven in signature police Subaru outbacks on Tuesday, with limited fanfare.
Dozens of detectives formed a cordon around them — this time not to ensure they were out of harm's way, but to restrict their movement as ordinary suspects before a court of law.
Perhaps extending some courtesy, despite being formally charged, police officers could be seen allowing them to pick and make calls before the court proceedings got underway.
But as Rotich and Thugge took their seats in the dock, reality started dawning on the distinguished economists.
As the prosecutor read out the charges, Rotich listened, gazed at the ceiling and often scratched his head, perhaps asking himself why this was happening to him.
At hand to perhaps remind him of the uncharted waters ahead, former Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero, was also at the waiting bench. Kidero was apparently relaxed and composed, despite graft allegations facing him.
Having been arraigned on graft charges, Kidero exchanged pleasantries with Rotich and Thugge as they waited for their turn.
Donning a grey suit, a white shirt and a yellow tie, the former World Bank economist must have recalled that just months ago he published newspaper adverts to deny allegations that billions had been lost in the Arror and Kamwerer dams.
They were to be built in his native Elgeyo Maraquet county but the immediate charges only concerned the Kimwarer dam.