Tobiko dismisses CORD allegations against Kimemia

By Moses Njagih

Nairobi,KENYA: Police have dismissed as ‘speculative rumours’ claims by a political alliance that Head of Public Service Francis Kimemia was involved in a scheme to rig the March 4 elections in favour of Jubilee coalition.

Director of Criminal Investigations Mohamed Amin exonerated Kimemia and five other senior State officials, including Intelligence boss Michael Gichangi, Military Chief General Julius Karangi, from ‘sensational’ accusations made by the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD).

CORD had alleged a plot by the Public Service Head to rig the polls through the use of members of the Provincial Administration. Consequently, Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Keriako Tobiko directed that the inquiry file on the allegations be closed without further action by police.

CORD leadership had claimed that Kimemia, Gichangi, Karangi, Office of the President Permanent Secretary Mutea Iringo, his Finance counterpart Joseph Kinyua and a senior official in the Office of the President Kennedy Kihara had attended meetings to arrange the manipulation of the polls.

Affiliate Parties

The CORD complaint letter was signed by Mutula Kilonzo, Prof Anyang’ Nyong’o and Dr Esseli Simiyu — all secretary generals of the CORD affiliate parties Wiper, Orange Democratic Movement and Ford Kenya, respectively.

In their complaint sent to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), CORD claimed Kimemia had met with Jubilee leaders, President-elect Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy William Ruto, at Elementaita Jacaranda Hotel on January 27. The Raila Odinga-led coalition had further claimed that during a meeting with members of the Provincial Administration two days later, Kimemia appealed to the administrators to assist the campaigns of Uhuru, warning that they would be sacked if CORD candidate Raila won the elections.

In its letter, CORD also claimed that a facilitation sum of between Sh5 million and Sh15 million had been promised to each of the administrators attending the planning meeting. But in a letter dated March 21, Amin said that after thorough investigation, they had not found any evidence to support the allegations.

The Criminal Investigation Department consequently forwarded its recommendations to Tobiko who directed the closure of the inquiry file without any further action.

“It is our finding that there is no sufficient material or circumstantial evidence supporting these allegations and as such, they can only be treated as speculative rumours,” says Amin in his letter to Tobiko.

Amin further said that efforts by the investigators to record statements with CORD officials were futile as the leaders failed to avail themselves.

The DPP, in his response to the letter, concurred with the investigation boss.