The intrigues surrounding the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) deepened with the resignation of its chairman Mumo Matemu on Wednesday this week. Mr Matemu was the last of the three EACC commissioners to throw in the towel.
Prior to the resignation of Commissioner Jane Onsongo, she had complained of powerful individuals in Government threatening her life, which reportedly prompted her to resign and even leave the country in fear. Mr Matemu remained adamant he would not resign even after President Uhuru Kenyatta set up a tribunal to investigate the allegations of impropriety against the commissioners.
Questions will linger on why Mr Matemu and Ms Keino elected to resign rather than go through a tribunal. That corruption costs the country dearly cannot be underestimated.
World Bank data estimates that Kenya loses nearly Sh300 billion every year to the corrupt ways of public servants. That is colossal.
And therefore what will occupy the minds of many is whether the Government is truly committed to fighting corruption. Failure by the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Attorney General and the Chairman of the Committee for the Implementation of the Constitution to agree in principle on whether the commission can effectively function without commissioners has not made matters any better. Despite assurances, it is difficult to see how EACC can run without crucial board decisions to which the secretariat is not privy.
Even though Attorney General Githu Muigai and Public Service Commission (PSC) chairperson Margaret Kobia said on Wednesday the process of replacing the three commissioners had commenced, one wonders how that could be, given that PSC has not advertised those positions as required in law.
What criteria, therefore, is being used to start the process of replacing the commissioners?
New allegations of Sh28 billion scam at the Moi Teachers and Referral Hospital, Eldoret upgrading scheme came up in the last few days and have taken an ugly turn, with the Government and the Opposition throwing barbs at each other. However, the veracity of these claims is yet to be established as the Public Investments Committee of Parliament awaits the Auditor General's forensic report on the alleged shady deal. A functioning EACC would have taken over such a case. As it is, the public will be ill at ease to accept whatever findings come out of a hugely discredited Parliament.
What is more, there is little information in the public domain on the progression of the cases against the 175 senior Government officials who stepped aside so that claims of corruption against them can be investigated. The apparent lack of information and the apparent bragging by one of the suspended that he still enjoys all the perks that come with holding office raise scepticism about the Government's resolve to fight graft.
Of the three people the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) recently recommended should be arrested and prosecuted on matters of integrity, Governor Mwangi wa Iria of Muranga appears to have absolved himself after a High Court judge ruled that the basis of the DPP's order was "an erroneous lower court ruling". Such developments do not help perceptions regarding investigations by the EACC and the DPP's offices and drains the faith in the anti-corruption crusade.
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