Raila, Ruto fight will halt momentum needed to win anti-graft war

Going by recent graft-related arrests, Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich could have been locked up last Friday after spending the better part of the week being interrogated by detectives.

In what has come to be known as ‘Kamata Kamata Friday’, a majority of those visiting that busy address on Kiambu Road to help with investigations have found themselves cooling their heels in the cells over the weekend awaiting court appearances on Monday.

PAYMENTS

As it were, Mr Rotich has to be the first recent high-profile guest of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) to be afforded the pleasure of spending the weekend with his family.

Where the media expected a tough-talking Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Haji coming out to announce the detention of the Cabinet Secretary and a long list of charges, they instead got a relatively timid statement describing the investigations into the Arror and Kimarwer dams scandal in which taxpayers might have lost Sh21 billion to a broke Italian contractor as ‘complex’ and appealing for public patience.

Among other things, Mr Rotich is believed to have been questioned about the authorisation of payments to the Italian firm CDC Di Ravena, which has since filed for bankruptcy, for the dam projects in Elgeyo Marakwet that have yet to get off the ground.

It could as well be that after four appointments with the DCI detectives, nothing was found to link the Treasury boss with the scandal.

POLITICISING

It is also possible that Mr Rotich will be called to pay Kiambu Road another visit or have his file handed over to the DPP at a later date.

But keen observers will not have failed to notice the coincidence between the DPP’s uncharacteristically coy statement on Friday and the events on the political scene where influential leaders took to the podium to trade accusations over the dams scandal.

On Wednesday, ODM party leader Raila Odinga, addressing the Devolution Conference in Kirinyaga, challenged the Deputy President, William Ruto, to cam clean on the scandal.

Mr Ruto chose the same grounds to hit back the next day, accusing Mr Odinga of politicising the fight against corruption.

The verbal exchange between the two rivals, believed to be preparing to battle it out for the presidency in 2022, served to further pollute an already toxic political atmosphere created by their respective attack dogs in recent weeks.

There is no doubt that each of the two camps sees some political capital to be gained from the fight against corruption.

UNELECTABLE

Mr Odinga’s people hope the prosecution of Mr Ruto’s allies will make him unelectable.

Mr Ruto’s people believe an ICC-type persecution narrative will win their man sympathy votes.

But for the investigative and the prosecution agencies leading the fight against corruption, this is ominous.

Getting dragged into dirty personality battles between two of Kenya’s most influential leaders will surely erode the critical political will they need to win the anti-graft war.

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