Raila Odinga: Uhuru Kenyatta not serious on crusade

Cord leader Raila Odinga has accused President Uhuru Kenyatta and the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission of colluding to defeat the war against sleaze.

He said the two breached the law when the list of suspected corrupt officials was delivered to the National Assembly.

Mr Odinga said Mr Kenyatta had deliberately left out “sacred cows” in the Office of the President. He also wanted to know why Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission officials were not on the list.

“There can’t be corruption of this magnitude without the highest priest of the country knowing. Everyone knows the high priest and he is not in the list of shame,” he said on Monday at Eka Hotel on Mombasa Road, soon after returning from a trip to China and Germany.

The Opposition leader said EACC had failed in its duty as an independent commission.

“The President brought to the House a dossier given to him by the CEO of the commission. This is a breach of the Constitution. It turns EACC into a bandit organisation and a fire fighting tool of the Executive,” he said.

Mr Odinga called the EACC report a fraud. He said President Kenyatta should be an executive authority and not a whistleblower.

He added that the President should have been bold enough to sack officers suspected of corruption.

“By failing to dismiss those he has power to sack while admonishing those he has no powers over, the war on graft has once again been cheapened and turned into a game of musical chairs,” said Mr Odinga.

The Cord leader said it was business as usual since those who had stepped aside would “troop back to their seats and make up for lost time”.