Former Kiambu Governor Ferdinand Waititu has asked an anticorruption court to acquit him of all charges in the Sh588 million graft case saying they were instituted because of his overwhelming support for President William Ruto during the 2022 succession politics.
Waititu took to the dock and told trial Magistrate Thomas Nzyuki that when the politics of TangaTanga started, he was one of the major proponents in Kiambu. He alleged that because he supported Ruto, the then-ruling class engineered his arrest and subsequent charging in court.
"I supported the President so much. At the time he was the deputy president. I was sacrificed in a wider political war linked to the 2022 succession politics," he said.
He defended himself saying the pending graft case was levelled against him so that he could be hounded out of office.
"It was a scheme. This was a political witchhunt. The case was started to hound me out of office," Waititu said.
"They succeeded because when I was charged, one of the conditions when bail terms were set was that I should not go back to the office."
He told the court that what followed was his impeachment after alleged instructions from the former government. He alleges that when the matter escalated to the Senate, money exchanged hands.
"Senators were bribed to uphold my impeachment," he said.
Waititu, his wife Susan Wangari, Testimony Enterprises, its directors and others were in 2019 charged over the irregular award of Sh588,198,328.20 road tender in Kiambu County.
The prosecution closed its case last year after calling 32 witnesses and presenting a number of documentary evidence.
Further hearing proceeds on Thursday.
