Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) leader Raila Odinga has warned President Uhuru Kenyatta that corruption could bring his Government down.
Raila challenged the President to deal with corruption right from his office, saying the level at which the vice had reached had put the country “in the intensive care unit”.
Speaking yesterday in Yimbo, Siaya County during the burial of the late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga’s speech writer, Barrack Odinge Odera, Raila claimed all systems of Government are riddled with corruption.
He mentioned the Office of the President, Judiciary, Parliament and the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) as organs riddled with corruption.
He said issues of poverty, ignorance, disease and bad governance which Odinge used to address in his speeches for Jaramogi were still haunting Kenyans 50 years after independence.
Raila expressed his displeasure with corruption allegations surrounding the EACC and revisited the chicken gate scandal, saying the Government was dragging its feet in bringing those involved to book.
“The two people who gave out a bribe of Sh50 million have already been sentenced to three years and 18 months in jail (in the UK), yet the Kenyan Government is still investigating. What are they investigating when the UK victims had admitted having bribed Kenyans?” posed Raila.
The former Prime Minister asked the President not to look any further as the people engaged in scandalous activities are right beside him.
“As you always ride on the slogan Kusema na kutenda (words with action), ensure that you act because you are surrounded by very smart corrupt individuals,” he told the President.
Raila was accompanied by his wife Ida, Kisumu Senator Anyang' Nyong’o, Bondo MP Gideon Ochanda and his nominated counterpart Oburu Oginga.
Meanwhile, the Senate Committee on Finance, Commerce and Budget wants the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) disbanded for lacking the will to perform its duties.
Committee chairman Billow Kerrow said Kenyans no longer have faith on the anti-graft commission. “The EACC has had challenges since the issue of anti-corruption was first mooted in the country,” he said.
The committee also called for reconstitution of several National Assembly committees that are fighting claims of corruption. Kerrow said the integrity of Parliament has been dented by reports that some MPs received bribes to alter various reports. “The Powers and Privileges Committee of the National Assembly will carry out its mandate, and we believe we will know what happened when it makes its report,” he said.
The Mandera Senator was addressing the press yesterday at the opening of a three-day committee retreat at the Great Rift Valley Lodge in Naivasha.
Several independent commissions, including the Controller of Budget, Auditor General, Commission on Revenue Allocation, Transition Authority and the Salaries and Remuneration Commission are attending the retreat.
Also at the retreat are chairmen of county assemblies’ finance committees. The EACC and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations skipped the meeting despite being invited.
Report by Rushdie Oudia, Antony Gitonga and Moses Njagih
