Opposition: There are enough laws and agencies, but President Uhuru Kenyatta lacks political goodwill to fight graft

Opposition leaders have claimed President Uhuru Kenyatta lacks the political goodwill to fight corruption.

Reacting to the Head of State's speech, the leaders argued there were already enough anti-graft laws and institutions, but there was no political amity to implement them.

The leaders accused the Jubilee administration of interfering with the independence of critical institutions given the mandate of fighting graft.

Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) Chair John Mbadi said the problem was not the absence of laws, but poor leadership.

"We have even over-legislated when it comes to laws on corruption. We lack an able leader willing to take the graft fight head-on," said Mr Mbadi.

He said the Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission (EACC) was technically dead without commissioners and that the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) was being interfered with by Jubilee.

"Aside from EACC and Office of the DPP, the Office of the Auditor General is being frustrated, yet all these institutions play a major role in checking excesses and corruption in Government," said Mbadi.

He also noted that the institutions were cash-starved, making it difficult to undertake their mandates.

"The President should take a decisive action against corrupt officials to send a strong message to others. This should be done first because his term is also coming to an end," said the Suba legislator.

Wrong people

Nyando legislator Fred Outa said Uhuru lined up the wrong people beside him at State House instead of inviting the right ones who could fight corruption.

Homa Bay Senator Peter Kaluma said the only way to fight corruption was strengthening the institutions that deal with graft-related cases and allow them to operate independently.

Mr Kaluma accused the President of allowing his Executive to emasculate independent institutions.

"The President needs to have political goodwill and ensure anti-graft laws are implemented indiscriminately," said the Homa Bay Town legislator.

He also said the fight against could can be won through vigilant citizenry and a media that is independent, informative and alert.

Ugunja MP Opiyo Wandayi advised Uhuru to make corruption an expensive venture in order to eliminate it.

"The most feasible approach in our circumstances is to strengthen EACC by giving it prosecutorial powers, then go for the real big fish and have a few of them jailed to serve as a deterrent to others. Anything short of this is a futility," said Mr Wandayi.

His sentiments were also shared by nominated Senator Martha Wanjira who said having people's names in some list was not enough since many had been taken to court but there were no convictions.

Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale said if the President was serious about the war on corruption, he would have shaken up the Cabinet.

"If indeed President Uhuru Kenyatta was committed to fighting corruption, he would have used today's function to announce a new Cabinet line-up, excluding all those Cabinet secretaries currently on suspension," said Mr Khalwale.

Rarieda legislator Nicholas Gumbo hoped Uhuru's move would not be a false start, saying he had to walk the talk.