Opposition leader Raila Odinga has
termed President Uhuru Kenyatta's list of top officials accused of corruption
and whom State House has pressed to leave office to pave way for investigations
as a game of musical chairs. Mr Raila, who jetted back after a two week-tour of
Dubai, China and Germany claimed the President was playing politics by
deliberately omitting the name of someone he described as the "High
Priest" of corruption. He wondered why the President had failed to sack
those he had the power to get rid of in an apparent reference to Cabinet
Secretaries and Principal Secretaries and instead admonishing those he had no
power over. This cluster would be interpreted to be governors who have resisted
the President's call to step aside, arguing that as elected officials, the
Constitution provides for the procedure of their removal from office. The
Coalition of Reforms and Democracy (CORD) leader termed Uhuru's corruption
purge and the requirement that affected officials step aside pending
investigations as a gimmick borrowed from his predecessors to "cool public
pressure", claiming that soon all those involved will return to office.
"The move should convince all that it is business as usual and soon, all
those who have stepped aside shall troop back to their seats and make up for
lost time. The President is acting as a whistle-blower, not an executive
authority," he said. Destroying reputations See also: EACC wants Okemo's
appointment revoked He reminded the Jubilee administration of the ill-fated
Judicial radical surgery soon after President Mwai Kibaki took over power in
2003, adding that the scenario could recur. "It is a sad reminder of
Justice Aaron Ringera and (Senator) Kiraitu Murungi's exits but ill-fated so
called 'Radical Surgery of the Judiciary' in 2003 which turned into a
witch-hunt and a white-wash whose sole aim was to pack the same institution
with loyalists and home-boys while destroying reputations of others through
rumours and innuendos," said the CORD leader. The former Premier said the
manner in which the Ethics and Anti- Corruption Commission (EACC) list was
handed over to the President was unconstitutional, skewed and meant to hoodwink
Kenyans, yet nothing was going to change. "We find the so-called report of
the EACC a fraud on the people of Kenya. The President's move to table names
from the Commission before Parliament and to seek those named to 'step aside',
a discomforting reminder that the more things change in our country, the more
they remain the same," he said. He congratulated the President for the
public apology over past historical injustices. And in response to Raila's
claims, Senior Director of Messaging at the Presidency Eric Ng'eno said the war
on graft is off on a strong, systematic and large-scale footing.
"Understandably, the loudest protests against the President's recent move
are from those who have skeletons in their closets. As a co-principal of the
immediate former administration, Raila Odinga's office was frequently buffeted
by enormous scandals where Kenya lost lots of money," he said.
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