Few months ago, President Uhuru Kenyatta vowed to deal with corrupt government officials, at least we have witnessed some of the officials being sermoned by the Ethics an Anti- Corruption Commission (EACC).
Days after Samburu governor’s home was raided by the EACC agents, three sitting and one former governor are facing arrest over corruption-related charges as the commission shifts focus to county chiefs suspected to have stolen from public coffers.
One of the governors is from Nyanza region and is known to be close to former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, the other one is from the Coast and the third is from Eastern region and has recently been in the news.
All the three have been accused of siphoning cash from their counties through proxies, abuse of office, failing to safeguard public resources, among others.
Apart from the four, the EACC is also firming up cases against 12 other governors. In some cases investigations are almost complete.
The EACC has been working quietly to identify assets bought using cash stolen from the counties. They include houses, land and high-end cars.
The former governor, who has maintained a low profile since he lost election, is accused of failing to follow government procedures and irregularly awarding a multi-million contract to a company associated with his son’s business.
His former chief of staff is also facing charges of grabbing prime public land and illegally transferring county property to his company.
Mbarak, declined to reveal the identities of the three governors facing arrest and possible prosecution, only saying that investigations are underway.
“We have heightened operations and our undercover officers will be striking when they (the governors) least expect it,” Twalib said.
Mbarak and the Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji have jointly set up a committee to review all files before consent to prosecute is given.
Speaking in Kisii yesterday, President Uhuru Kenyatta once again pledged to rid the country of corruption and said thieves would go to jail.
“We will not allow anyone to continue stealing money from public coffers,” the head of state said while touring Kisii.
Mismanagement of public funds in the counties has also been periodically mentioned in reports by the Auditor General, the Controller of Budget and the Commission on Revenue Allocation.
New EACC boss Mbarak is said to have established a special unit of investigators, intelligence and legal officers dedicated to dealing with corruption in the counties.
Read: [VIDEO] Samburu Governor reshuffles executives in fight against corruption
The officers have been profiling and tracking down assets owned by corruption suspects as the commission casts a wide net to seize properties in asset recovery efforts.
The move is said to have hastened graft cases involving county bosses after years of lethargy at the commission.
Previously, there have been claims of the agency being sidelined in President Kenyatta’s renewed war on graft, following turf wars and some officers at the agency holding brief for graft lords. It is hoped this will shift under Twalib’s reign.
The graft czar said some counties were awarding tenders at inflated costs and then paying millions of shillings to contractors upfront, even before projects are completed a clear avenue for kickbacks.
“Some governors have become overnight millionaires. We shall expand both covert and overt operations in all counties until sanity in governance is restored,” Twalib told the Star.
The operations will be extended to assets tracing and recovery, he noted, calling on he public to assist the commission in volunteering critical information on misuse of public funds in all counties.
See: Ojaamong arrested over Sh20m fraud claims
Twalib, a former intelligence officer, has promised to ruthlessly deal with governors superintending graft.