Carry your own cross, DP William Ruto tells corrupt Kenyan State officers

Deputy President William Ruto has told political leaders and State officers implicated in corruption to carry their own cross.

“Every leader must be held to account. All those involved in acts of corruption must face the full force of the law,” Ruto warned.

Addressing the 45th graduation at Shanzu Teachers Training College in Mombasa County yesterday, the DP told leaders to embrace integrity or face the full force of the law.

At the same time, Ruto said the Strategic Services Department formed by the President, will decisively deal with extremism, radicalism and cattle rustling.

“The department will be allocated the necessary resources to deal with formation of gangs and other emerging issues,” Ruto said.

Also present at the event were Coast leaders who backed the renewed war on graft led by President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Mombasa Governor Hassan Ali Joho dismissed the list doing the rounds about top officials allegedly involved in graft as “mere speculation” not worth responding to.

In a statement issued by his chief of staff Idris Abdulrahman, Joho who is abroad said:”As far as we are concerned these are just speculations and we can only comment once we have seen the report.”

 MPs Gonzi Rai (Kinango), Ibrahim Sane (Garsen), Peter Shehe (Ganze) and Kwale women representative Zainab Chidzuga backed the President’s war against corruption.

Rai lauded the President’s action saying the Jubilee administration was ready and willing to tackle graft head on.

“Jubilee has the necessary drive to weed out corruption at all levels. Those in doubt should wait and see how this is done,” Rai said. Mr Sane and Ms Chidzuga said leaders in the Coast should back every effort by government to uproot corruption.

“We are urging the President to spare time and consult with Coast leaders to ensure greater success in the government efforts,” Chidzuga appealed.

Shehe however claimed the media has launched a smear campaign against some political leaders following the government efforts to fight graft.

“It is wrong to publish names of some leaders who have nothing to do with the corruption list. This is a smear campaign,” Shehe said.

Shehe said the stand by the President on corruption was unprecedented in Kenya's history and called on all Kenyans to back the government efforts.

Ruto appealed to Kenyans to embrace forgiveness and co-existence in line with the President’s public apology.