Keino quits anti-graft unit, tribunal oathed

Suspended Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission Deputy Chairperson Irene Keino resigned Thursday, hours after a team appointed to investigate her took oath of office.

Ms Keino chose not to face a tribunal appointed by President Uhuru Kenyatta to investigate her and Chairman Mumo Matemu, following complaints against them.

“I wish to confirm today, that I have resigned with immediate effect. I have done so in order to spare my family the anguish of a judicial process that will cause them unimaginable pain and also to lend my support in the fight against corruption,” she said.

“Although I would have been pleased to step aside for a full public enquiry into any of the allegations made against me, I opt to resign because Kenya can never win the war against corruption without personal sacrifice,” added Ms Keino in a statement to newsrooms.

The two were suspended on Thursday last week, a day after Parliament adopted a report by the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee, which recommended their removal from office.

A third commissioner, Dr Jane Onsongo, resigned last month, following claims that she had been promised an ambassadorial post if she stepped down.

A four-member tribunal under retired Judge Jonathan Havelock will investigate the two and was yesterday sworn-in by Chief Justice Willy Mutunga. Mr Matemu will face the tribunal unless he resigns.

Ms Keino said she and other commissioners had found themselves in “hot water” in their efforts to fight corruption and it was no longer tenable for her to serve in the commission.

Ms Keino’s troubles started in September last year after she and Ms Onsongo wrote to the President saying that Mr Matemu was privately meeting individuals being investigated.

The two later disowned the letter but added a twist by saying they had withdrawn the complaint after “thoughtful consideration”.

On April 1, both Mr Matemu and Ms Keino publicly claimed they were being forced out of office by “forces.” Her fate and that of the chairman seemed to have been sealed in February, when Parliament was told that senior officials at Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission received a bribe to look the other way in a Sh5 billion scandal at the National Social Security Fund.

The Havelock team’s will now investigate Mr Matemu alone. It is starting its work against a backdrop of suspicion as to whether the graft agency will be able to effective in the absence of the commissioners.

SECRETARY IN CHARGE

But Attorney-General Githu Muigia has allayed these fears, arguing that the commission was fully functional as the secretariat was in charge of its day-to-day work, which include investigations and submitting files for prosecution.

The suspension had not left any gaps in the discharge of its mandate, he added.

Justice Havelock said his team was aware of lingering doubts over the effectiveness of the commission after the pair’s suspension.

He promised to deliver the report and recommendations within 60 days although he said they were yet to receive crucial documents from Parliament and the the commission.

“We will be relying heavily on the information that is available in the two institutions for our investigations,” Mr Havelock told journalists at the Supreme Court.