EACC seeks DC over military recruitment bribery claims

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) wants to question a District Commissioner following claims he sought a bribe in the on-going military recruitment.

The EACC said Thursday that Borabu DC Patrick Chege would be required to respond to the bribery claims.

“He is being looked for to shed more light and record statements regarding the allegations,” said Mr Nicholas Simani, the EACC Public Relations Officer Thursday.

The Commission urged the DC to show up at their Kisumu offices to state his side of the story.

According to the Commission, the administrator approached Kenya Defence Forces officials in Borabu through an administration police officer, on Monday with a bribe of Sh40, 000 to “facilitate the recruitment of a candidate” into the military, in his district early this week.

During the recruitment, the DC is also said to have directly called the head of KDF recruitment in Borabu before he sent the money via money transfer service. But the officials rejected the offer and instead forwarded the communication to anti-corruption officials in Nyanza region.

Mr Simani could not name the type of money transfer used, but said the supporting telecom company had given transaction details to the police.

“The provincial commissioner of Nyanza and the Kenya Defence Forces have availed (sic) additional credible information and other documentations including communications through a service provider which will assist in the investigations,” he said in a statement.

Earlier, there were conflicting reports that the DC had been arrested by his colleagues after he made the offer. Mr Simani, however, said the man was still on the run.

“The district commissioner has since Monday gone underground and it has been established that he has not reported to his office.”

When the Nation called his office, Mr Chege was said to be absent.

The KDF launched the recruitment two weeks ago in which they seek to increase the number of soldiers from a pool of young people around the country.

EACC called on “collective responsibility” to help the KDF, police and the Commission to catch the culprits.

“If anyone has credible information on any corrupt practices, they should immediately report to the KDF headquarters or EACC,” added Mr Simani.