President Uhuru Kenyatta’s nominees to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission have backed calls to bar graft suspects from the August polls.
Cecilia Mutuku and John Ogallo on Wednesday told a Parliamentary committee that politicians facing corruption charges should not take part in elections.
The two were appearing for an approval hearing before the National assembly’s Justice and Legal Affairs Committee chaired by Kangema MP Muturi Kigano.
Mutuku said leaders facing corruption charges should not be allowed near a public office.
The 54-year-old human resources professional said it was time Kenyans took seriously the issue of ethics and morals when electing people to serve the public.
“This is a moral issue. Would you employ someone who is accused of corruption because he or she has not been charged?" Mutuku asked.
“Even the most corrupt, when they want to hire, they go for the best.”
She was responding to a question by Keiyo South MP Daniel Rono.
Mutuku is currently the head of the human resources department at Kenya Bureau of Standards.
Ogallo blamed the convoluted legal regime that gives graft suspects more avenues to exploit and ensure the cases take the longest period before they are concluded.
The long and unending process he said is not helping the anti-graft war.
“We are victims of our own systems. Our own legal system is such that they negatively impact some of these issues,” Ogalo said.
There has been a hot debate on whether politicians accused of graft should be cleared to vie for political seats.
Currently, a number of elected leaders are facing graft-related charges in the country.
They are Governors Okoth Obado (Migori), Muthomi Njuki (Tharaka Nithi), Sospeter Ojaamong (Busia), Moses Lenolkulal (Samburu), and Ali Korane (Garissa).
Others are former Nairobi Governors Evans Kidero and Mike Sonko who are eyeing the Homa Bay and Mombasa governor seats, respectively.
Ferdinand Waititu also seeks to make a comeback despite his impeachment on graft claims.
A number of MPs are also facing graft charges, and attempted fraud among other breaches of integrity laws they presumably would not be eligible to contest if laws are amended.
Ogallo a former World Bank employee, committed to relocating back to the country after May 12 as he had scheduled medical appointments in the US.
MPs had threatened not to approve him until he disclosed his relocation plan.
Kigano said they will not gamble on approving someone who will turn out to be an absentee commissioner, derailing the work of the anti-graft body.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris
