Besieged graft boss Philip Kinisu finally quits

Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission chairman Philip Kinisu finally resigned on Wednesday in the wake of allegations that a company linked to his family had business dealings with the National Youth Service (NYS).

Mr Kinisu quit a day after a team of MPs recommended that he be suspended and investigated for conflict of interest.

The commission, which Mr Kinisu headed until Wednesday, has been investigating a corruption scandal at NYS involving the loss of hundreds of millions of shillings.

In a three paragraph statement, Mr Kinisu, 60, said his continued serving as EACC chair had become “impractical” due to adverse coverage of the dealings between the firm that he co-owns with his immediate family and the NYS.

Despite announcing that he had written to the President to inform him of his decision to resign, Mr Kinisu maintained his innocence and denied the allegations levelled against him.

He said he was resigning to save the country “significant resources and attention being spent on the allegations at the expense of the fight against corruption.”

“To ensure that due attention is paid to the fight against corruption, I have today tendered to  the President my resignation as chairman of EACC. By this measure, I believe that EACC will henceforth be able to focus on carrying out its mandate,” he said in his statement.

Mr Kinisu appeared to have resigned to his fate the moment MPs recommended his removal from office following a petition by a  Mr Albert Ondieki.

The formal process of removing him from office begun after the Parliamentary Justice and Legal Affairs Committee recommended that President Uhuru Kenyatta forms a tribunal to investigate him.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST CHARGE

The committee was chaired by Ainabkoi MP Samuel Chepkonga and it tabled its report in the National Assembly on Tuesday.

Mr Kinisu faced conflict of interest charges over his firm Esaki Ltd’s dealings with the NYS for which it was paid Sh35.4 million.

By throwing in the towel, Mr Kinisu joins a long list of his predecessors at the anti-corruption agency who have been hounded out of office for various reasons.

They include Mr John Harun Mwau, Mr Justice Aaron Ringera, Prof Patrick Lumumba and most recently, Mr Mumo Matemu.

Sources at Integrity Centre — the commission’s headquarters — told the Nation that Mr Kinisu had lost favour with his fellow commissioners, members of the secretariat and EACC staff and had lately cut a lonely figure.

“He had lately resorted to making technical appearances,” said a long-serving staff who sought anonymity.

By resigning, Mr Kinisu, a former senior partner, CEO and chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers becomes the shortest serving chair of the EACC, having taken office only on January 19.

As the CEO of PwC until 2012, Mr Kinisu oversaw its operations in nine countries and as chairman of its Africa board until 2014, he supervised the firm’s businesses in 16 countries.

On Tuesday, he told the Nation that he was taking things “day by day”.

“I have not read the report (by the MPs) and cannot say anything about it. In the circumstances, you take things day by day,” he said.

And when contacted earlier on Wednesday, he turned down any interviews, saying: “I am not talking to the Nation now, may be later.”

At the time of his appointment, Mr Kinisu was seen as the perfect candidate to “slay the dragon of corruption” and was already settling into the role when the conflict of interest charges emerged, gravely denting his image.

By the eve of his departure, MPs had questioned his suitability as the head of the investigative agency.