Ministers corrupt, says Karua

Justice minister Martha Karua has accused her Cabinet colleagues of corruption.

She said the (anti-corruption) law was never followed during the formation of the grand coalition Cabinet, resulting in a mixture of good and bad leaders in the present Government.

“When it came to the formation of the coalition Government we never considered the laws that we had made. We all joined the Government — whether you had a pending case or not, whether you were publicly known to be tainted with corruption, we are all there,” the minister for Justice, National Cohesion and Constitutional Affairs said.

Such a scenario was likely to hurt ordinary Kenyans unless the ministers were monitored closely.

Ms Karua, who was speaking at Red Soil ACK church in Mwea Division on Sunday, said the Government must bring to an end cartels in maize, energy and other sectors.

“You should watch us closely because we can make you suffer. Already there are signs that unless we are not watched keenly, we can hurt you,” Ms Karua said.

The minister said the conflict between the Prime Minister’s office and that of the head of the civil service was a signal that things were not all that good in the Government.

She said each office must be allowed to perform duties within its mandate without interference.

The work of the office of the PM, the minister said, was not implementing but supervision because implementation should be the role of the ministry.

She said the head of civil service was a constitutional office and it too should avoid the pitfall of interfering with the functions of any ministry.

“Since the PM’s is a new office, we must watch it keenly so that he does not interfere with the implementation role while the one charged with implementing must do so according to the law. If it fails to do so then the PM’s office can take action,” the minister said.

If the National Accord Act was followed to the letter everybody could work within his area without any conflict, Ms Karua said.

She said the delivery of a new constitution can be jeopardised by differences among the leaders.