Kenya’s president Uhuru Kenyatta has ordered corrupt public officials who have been mentioned in a report by an anti-graft watchdog to step aside pending investigation, regardless of their rank.
The 175 officials include Cabinet secretaries, governors and senators who have been named in a confidential reportthat was handed to the presiodent by the Ethics and anti-graft commission.
The president handed the report over to the National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi. In a state of the nation address to parliament, Kenyatta said he had issued an order directing civil servants who felt pressure to engage in unethical or illegal acts to contact his office, regardless of who was pushing them.
“I want to reiterate this personal commitment, which is also provided for in the constitution,” he said.
He said a new report had been handed to him by Kenya’s Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission that “contains a catalogue of allegations of high-level corruption touching on all arms and levels of government.”
The officials names were not made public regardless of the fact that a list containing their names was handed over to the speaker of the national assembly.
The officials named will be expected to step aside to pave the way for an investigation based on the confidential report the President said he had received from the chief executive officer of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission.
“The time has come to send a strong signal to the country that my administration will accept nothing less than the highest standard of integrity from those that hold high office,”the president said as he gave his state of the nation address on Thursday in Parliament.
When former President Mwai Kibaki first came to office in 2002, he appointed an anti-corruption czar, John Githongo, who then turned whistle-blower against the state, accusing the government of sidelining his work. The government denied this.
