EACC in rigorous vetting of election nominees

Dozens of politicians with pending corruption cases and integrity issues are facing tough times ahead as the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission vets aspirants ahead of this year's General Election.

On Saturday, the EACC, which is leading the process, said it will employ stringent tools to vet the thousands of candidates to ensure only those who pass the integrity test are allowed to vie.

The vetting will be for all seats being contested including those of the president, the deputy president, governors, senators, Members of Parliament and Members of County Assembly.

The EACC’s Chief Executive Officer Halakhe Waqo said the Commission would then make recommendations on suitability of candidates to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission.

“We shall let IEBC know the candidates with pending corruption cases and other integrity issues. We shall then leave to IEBC to decide. Our work will also be guided by Chapter Six of the Constitution,” he said.

The chapter talks of personal integrity, competence and suitability of persons seeking public office.

By this week, the EACC had received “self-declaration” forms from 16,140 candidates and is expecting more.

On ethics, candidates are required to state on the form if they have ever been cited for: dishonesty while conducting public affairs, misuse of public resources, abuse of office, misleading the public, discrimination and falsifying official or personal records.

PROFESSIONAL BODIES

The EACC will also be looking for those who may have been barred or removed from registers of professional bodies, whose occupation or vocational licences have been revoked, who may have been dismissed from employment over integrity issues and who may have failed to declare their wealth.

Candidates who may have been convicted and sentenced by a court of law in the past and those who may have been denied the police certificate of good conduct as well as others with revoked Visas will also be persons of interest to the Commission.

“Even as we look at the self-declaration forms, most important will be the information in our data base. This information can stand against a candidate even if he or she states otherwise in the forms,” said Mr Waqo.

He added: “We shall also rely on information from other bodies, especially the inter-agency taskforce. It was formed so that we are able to get as much information as possible in one sitting.”

Among others, the taskforce comprises the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, Kenya Revenue Authority, Higher Education Loans Board, National Intelligence Service and Office of Director of Public Prosecutions among others.

The EACC is also involving religious and civic organisations in the vetting.

PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES

Those who sought the commission’s clearance this week are 11 presidential candidates, three who want to be deputy president, 263 seeking the governor positions as well as 81 others who want to be deputy governors have presented their papers to the anti-graft agency.

Others are 333 for Senate, 361 for woman representatives, 1,964 seeking National Assembly seats and 12,913 who want to be Members of County Assemblies.

A number of politicians have pending cases in court and other matters in public domain that certainly would be of interest to the EACC.

Some of the big names who will be under scrutiny are Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho who is facing investigation concerning his academic certificates, Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua battling accusations of unlawful procurement of 16 motor vehicles by the county and Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero who is being investigated over contracts awarded by City Hall.

Nandi Hills MP Alfred Keter and his nominated counterpart Sonia Birdi are facing charges of causing a disturbance at the Gilgil Weighbridge.

Lawmakers facing charges of hate speech are Senator Johnstone Muthama (Machakos), MPs Kimani Ngunjiri (Bahati), Timothy Bosire (Kitutu Masaba), Florence Mutua (Busia County), Aisha Jumwa (Kilifi County) and Junet Mohamed (Suna East).

SOUGHT CLEARANCE

It was not immediately established if all of them have sought the EACC’s clearance.

Others include: Garissa Governor Nathif Jama accused of irregularly leasing eight ambulances from the Kenya Red Cross, Imenti Central MP Gideon Mwiti facing rape and assault case pending in court, Kapsaret MP Oscar Sudi who is in court on accusation of having forged academic papers, Ganze MP Peter Shehe charged with conspiracy to embezzle Sh40 million from the CDF three years ago, Lamu West MP Julius Ndegwa Kariuki facing charges of abuse of office and Kisii Senator Chris Obure battling a case in which he and six others are charged with abuse of office and conspiracy to defraud the government in connection with the Anglo Leasing scandal.

Laikipia North MP Mathew Lempurkel faces charges of assaulting nominated MP Sarah Korere and threatening police constable Nicholas Kipruto at Rumuruti police station in Laikipia West subcounty on July 31, Kasarani MP John Chege faces charges of soliciting a bribe to complete a secondary school project in his constituency, and Homa Bay Town MP Peter Kaluma faces charges of assaulting his political rival Washington Ogaga. The case will be heard on January 23.

NOT SPARED

Even those seeking political office for the first time will not be spared. Top on this list is former Devolution Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru who has been questioned by the EACC and adversely mentioned in a parliamentary report over the loss of funds at the National Youth Service. Mr Maina Njenga is eyeing the Laikipia Senator’s seat and was at one time jailed for being in possession of an illegal firearm and Babu Owino, the long-serving University of Nairobi student leader who is the ODM aspirant for the Embakasi East Constituency, is facing charges of assaulting and causing grievous harm to a fellow student, Mike Jacobs.

Mr Waqo however admitted that it will be difficult to lock out any candidate from participating in the August election due to the cardinal principle that one is innocent until proved guilty by a court of law and all appeal mechanisms are exhausted.

'WEAK CHAPTER'

Mr Waqo said: “Even if one was taken to court and convicted, we cannot bar them if they appealed and the appeal is pending. There are those who placed injunctions in court and, therefore, we cannot bar them. We can only bar those who were convicted and did not place appeals, even if it is serious crimes.”

He placed the blame on “weak Chapter Six (of the Constitution) which lacks well spelt out punishment.”

Since January, 1,340 officials have been charged in courts for corruption-related offences. A total of 432 cases are pending in court.

This week, the EACC signed an agreement with religious organisations on how they can help in some of its work. At the function, the commission’s chairman Eliud Wabukala said vetting the candidates is under way to ensure only those deemed corruption free make their way to public office.

He considers the process to be enormous and will require help from other organisations including religious groups.

On financial probity, candidates will be required to file statements declaring their wealth, that of their spouses and children aged below 18 years.