War on graft under threat, says TI-Kenya

A global corruption watchdog has weighed in on the suspension of Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) bosses by calling on the government to “secure” investigations the Commission was already dealing with.

On Thursday, the Transparency International-Kenya (TI) said that although proper procedure was being followed to investigate the EACC Chairman and his deputy, there is need to ensure what the two had done does not get washed down the drain.

“The suspension threatens current anti-corruption efforts if measures are not urgently put in place to ensure ongoing investigation are concluded within the current legal framework,” said TI-Kenya Executive Director Samuel Kimeu.

“It is important that we do not lose the momentum gained in the fight against corruption and progress recorded in probing these cases in the face of the commissioners’ suspension,” he said.

TI was responding to a move by President Uhuru Kenyatta to suspend EACC Chairman Mumo Matemu and his deputy Irene Keino on Thursday following a recommendation by the National Assembly on Wednesday to have the two removed from office.

EACC has had its problems in the past which include the resignation of the third commissioner Josephine Onsongo and claims that Mr Matemu was meeting privately with those implicated in scandals the commission was investigating as well as public spat between commissioners and the secretariat.

But their problems appeared to have been compounded when President Kenyatta presented a list of individuals being investigated for corruption in a report prepared by the Commission.

Those individuals include cabinet secretaries, principal secretaries, politicians, ambassadors, and senior civil servants. They have all protested their innocence.

TI-Kenya says the government ought to have investigated integrity claims on EACC commissioners as they arose to avoid crippling the entire commission’s work by dealing with them at once.