Africa-Press – Kenya. UDA Secretary General Hassan Omar has called on investigative agencies to arrest former deputy president Rigathi Gachagua over his remarks on the oil importation fiasco.
Omar on Monday said Gachagua’s remarks are sponsored by a benefactor of the oil deal that involved senior government officials who have since resigned.
Those named in the probe have since resigned, including Petroleum PS Mohamed Liban, Kenya Pipeline Company managing director Joe Sang, Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority director General Daniel Kiptoo, among others.
“We urge the two shallow-well talkers who have styled themselves as echo chamber enthusiasts to desist from acting at the behest of their Mombasa-based benefactor,” Omar said at the Hustler Centre in Nyali.
Omar said Gachagua’s remarks on Sunday at AIPCA Gakoe Church in Gatundu North, Kiambu County, appear to suggest an unusual familiarity with the alleged scheme.
“We urge investigative agencies to scrutinise the conduct of Wamunyoro (Gachagua). If evidence establishes complicity, he should be treated as an accomplice and subjected to full force of the law,” Omar said.
The ex-DP alleged that some money was found in cash during the probe; however, on Sunday, the Directorate if Criminal Investigations denied the allegation and distanced itself from any wrongdoing.
“The claims he made concerning recoveries and exhibits in regard to the ongoing probe into the suspected irregular procurement of fuel cargo by the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum lack any factual or evidentiary basis and are clearly intended to undermine public confidence in a key national law enforcement institution,” the DCI said in a statement signed by J.K Marete.
The DCI said no amount of political rhetoric or attacks will distract them from their professional duty.
The institution said they are analysing Gachagua’s statement, especially those made in the Gikuyu language, to see if they constitute offences under both the National Cohesion and Integration Act and any other provisions of the Penal Code.
On Monday, Omar said the lies and deceit that Gachagua spews are fast becoming a cause of concern.
“We have been treated to a theatre of misinformation, disinformation, ethnic incitement, and whipping of emotions by this gentleman even when the facts speak the contrary.”
“We have decided as a party that we will respond to him on every disinformation and misinformation that he has, particularly when he is being paid or paymasters are evidently using his otherwise rogue platform to create the discord that we see today in the political space,” Omar said.
The UDA secretary general said the G2G arrangement that was made about two years ago was meant to secure fuel supply to Kenya and protect Kenyans from the fluctuating global fuel prices.
The EALA MP said the arrangement was also meant to protect and stabilise the Kenyan shilling against the dollar.
“For public officers, in their own volition, to act outside established frameworks of engagement, where if our G2G partners had pulled out, it would occasion a massive economic crisis, is the height of greed and lack of patriotism,” Omar said.
He said since the Iran war began, there has been no indication for Kenya’s G2G partners that they would not meet their obligations.
“In fact, the G2G prices have been quite stable. It is quite unfortunate that some players would want to exploit that crisis. They started by creating an artificial fuel shortage,” Omar said.
“You do recall there was panic buying in Nairobi and parts of the country,” he said.
He said if fuel prices were to go up today, everything else would shoot.
KPC director Mutungwa Wambua assured Kenyans that they have enough fuel in their storage tanks that can last the country at least 30 days.
Wambua said those KPC staff who were involved in the scandal should carry their own cross.
“Let all staff of KPC not panic. If you are clean, you will be found clean. But if your hands are dirty, the government will come for you,” Wambua said.
INSTANT ANALYSIS:
Omar said the government acted swiftly to avert a possible loss of more than Sh3 billion through the irregular importation of substandard fuel. Omar said the G2G arrangement that the government has in place with other countries is in fact shielding the country from a fuel crisis.
