Reinstate all suspended Cabinet Secretaries, senator tells President Uhuru Kenyatta

Nairobi, Kenya - A Jubilee Alliance senator has demanded for the reinstatement of suspended cabinet secretaries and other senior public servants.

Nandi County Senator Stephen Sang says that the decision to direct the officers to step aside was populist and unlawful and thus must be rescinded.

Sang said the law only requires state officers who have been arraigned in court to be suspended or step aside but not compelling them to quit on the basis of rumours or being linked to graft.

“I am calling on the President to reinstate cabinet secretaries or officers who have asked to step aside until investigations are complete,” he said.

The URP senator who convened a press conference at parliament buildings, termed President Uhuru Kenyatta’s directive for those in the list of shame to step aside, as setting a high and unrealistic threshold in the fight against corruption which is no longer tenable.

“With the benefit of hindsight, the threshold set by the president might have been too high and unrealistic. Some of the thresholds applied for political convenience are unsustainable and can only plunge this county into a crisis,” he said.

The Senator demanded for full investigations into the corruption allegations against Devolution CS Anne Waiguru but cautioned the president not to succumb to any pressure to suspend her but rather allow investigation agencies to do their work.

He said by asking public officers to step aside before investigations are concluded, the head of state was succumbing to political vindictiveness that ignore the cardinal principle of innocence until proven guilty.

“Some of us raised issues then when the president asked officers in the list of shame to step aside. The president must not to succumb to the political vindictiveness. He needs to stick to the law and not adopting political conveniences. There must be a standard application of the law,” Sang said.

CSs Felix Koskei (Agriculture), Davis Chirchir (Energy), Charity Ngilu (Lands), Michael Kamau (Transport) and Kazungu Kambi of Labour were suspended over corruption claims with only Ngilu and Kamau having been charged.

The senator urged the president to ensure fair and just application of the law by allowing all public officers mentioned in corruption allegations allowed back to work until evidence is availed to charge them.

He asked embattled devolution CS Ann Waiguru to stay put in the back of corruption allegations leveled against her over the National Youth Service scam but noted that those in the cold over similar allegations should be reinstated.

“She should continue discharging her duties as devolution CS. Full investigations need to be done before she is told to step aside. Only public officers found guilty should step aside,” Sang added.

The legislator used the opportunity to criticize Sh25 billion budgetary allocation to NYS, to do some of the jobs which are already devolved and demanded that the monies be re-allocated to Agriculture which he says faces a shortage of Sh10 billion.

“Some of the functions NYS is undertaking are devolved and budgeted for by counties, there is no need of allocating Sh25 billion to NYS performing devolved functions and then deny Agriculture Sh10 billion required to guarantee food security. I want to urge the president to direct the reallocation of more funds to the Agriculture sector to make up the Sh16 billion requested,” he said.