The Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission is one of those commissions that has got many Kenyans trembling in fear to an extent that many no longer find Jobs associated with the commission appealing.
The office of the CEO and Chairman of the Commission has had past heads held at ransom with a number of leaders and especially the Kenyan Members of Parliament.
CEO nominee Twalib Mbarak seem to have seen what is in store for him should he land the job. Twalib has now revealed that he will resign in case of attempts to interfere with his work.
The former military intelligence officer pledged to decisively deal with all corruption cases, whether big or small.
“The view that there is a high office that controls the commission won’t exist in my tenure. But if such calls come from the high office and are likely to compromise my work, I will resign and go home,” Mbarak said.
He broke into tears before the Justice and Legal Affairs committee when he spoke about his 91-year-old mother and the role she played in instilling integrity in him.
Mbarak said his mother was an orphan and was married off at the age of 16. She worked hard to raise him to be morally upright, he said.
The nominee was being vetted by the committee chaired by Baringo North MP William Cheptumo.
“I will not get any orders from anywhere. I will be fair to all citizens,” Mbarak said.
He promised to audit “the high voltage files” that have been stuck with the commission for ages to fast track the cases.
Mbarak said he will vet all EACC staff to restore public confidence in the commission.
“Within a 100 days, we are going to revisit the issue of pending cases because some files have stuck there for years. We are going to look and see that these cases are taken to the DPP for prosecution,” Mbarak said.
He urged MPs to make laws that stipulate the period a case can take before it is determined. Mbarak said some cases take too long to be determined.
“For instance, the cemetery scandal, which started more than seven years ago and was just concluded the other day,” he said.
Mbarak said the commission need more staff to effectively handle graft cases. The EACC currently has 700 employees, including 100 investigators.
Do you think that Twalib is the right man for the task ahead? Will he bring back sanity among corrupt Government officials?