Kenya President, Uhuru Kenyatta.
- The suspended cabinet secretaries are Felix Kosgey (Agriculture), Davis Chirchir (Energy), Michael Kamau (Transport) and Kazungu Kambi (Labour).
Nairobi. President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya yesterday suspended cabinet secretaries named in a report by the country’s Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC).
President Kenyatta appointed other cabinet secretaries to oversee the dockets of the suspended CSs as they are investigated.
State House spokesman Manoah Esipisu said the principal secretaries and other State officers named in the EACC list have also been asked to step aside.
Mr Esipisu said the President has instructed the board of parastatals whose heads appear in the dossier to appoint other chief executives to act pending the investigations.
The suspended cabinet secretaries are Felix Kosgey (Agriculture), Davis Chirchir (Energy), Michael Kamau (Transport) and Kazungu Kambi (Labour).
The president appointed Industrialisation CS Adan Mohammed to take over the Agriculture docket while Henry Rotich of National Treasury will be in charge of Energy.
Mr Kambi’s Labour ministry will be headed by Raychell Omamo of Defence while Health CS James Macharia will be in charge of Kamau’s Transport docket.
The move comes after the officials defied President Kenyata’s order on Friday last week directing all those implicated to step down voluntarily.
By the time of the announcement yesterday, none of the 175 officials, including cabinet secretaries, principal secretaries and governors quit, despite the President’s order that they do so with immediate effect.
Their names were in a report by the EACC attached to the president’s State of the Nation address to Parliament on Thursday.
It will be made public on Tuesday when MPs start debating the speech. On Friday, many of those suspected to be on the list protested their innocence, saying they cannot resign on the basis of mere allegations.
A number of governors and MPs said the President had no mandate to ask them to leave their offices.
‘‘Some of them are facing serious criminal charges in a global court. Why are they not stepping aside? If I see his deputy stepping aside, I will do so the next day,” Meru governor Peter Munya said in apparent reference to Deputy President William Ruto.
The anti-corruption watchdog, he said, had neither summoned him nor had he received any communication asking him to step aside to pave the way for investigations. Deputy President William Ruto came out in support of the President’s order insisting that all those mentioned must quit.
“We have made our position very clear. Every leader appointed, elected or nominated must be accountable. All those involved in corruption irrespective of their positions must walk the narrow way,” Mr Ruto said in Mombasa. Consumer rights lobby Cofek supported the president’s order and asked him to sack officials who resist it.
“Under article 135 of the Constitution, the president has the powers to fire them,” secretary general Stephen Mutoro said in a statement. Cord leaders blamed the defiance on Mr Kenyatta himself saying he had powers to act but he chose to abdicate duty.
“That the president condones this illegality and connivance is an indication that he is keen to politicise corruption and ready to abdicate authority to fight corruption,” said Busia County Woman Representative Florence Mutua, who read the statement on behalf of Cord MPs.
And Lands Cabinet Secretary Charity Ngilu and her Roads counterpart Joseph Kamau were both on official duty abroad.
On Friday, the director of communications at State House, Munyori Buku, warned against unnecessary speculation over the list: “We urge the country to stay calm. This list will be made public next Tuesday. It is wrong to mention names that may not even be in the list.”
Only a small group of highly trusted people mainly from the Team Uhuru campaign had knowledge of the report.
Asked whether they will leave office, one of the Principal Secretaries, alleged to be among those listed in the report, said: “The order by the President was very clear. It is important to stay away so that this matter is cleared once and forever.”
But Labour Cabinet Secretary Kazungu Kambi said he has never been corrupt and told the Saturday Nation: “I am shocked some journalists struggled to have me incriminated. I want to confirm to you that I am in the office working and will continue doing so. I am a fighter of corruption and there is no way someone will succeed in dragging me into such a list.”
Energy and Petroleum minister Davis Chirchir who has been previously interrogated by the EACC over the chickengate scandal was also in office.
He said he had confirmed his name was not listed in the EACC report.
And some commissioners at the EACC also expressed shock at the handling of the confidential report claiming that commission’s chief cxecutive officer Halakhe Waqo acted unilaterally in submitting the document without consulting them.
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