In the past year, he says EACC has targeted county and national government officials to bring sanity in the public service by arraigning four sitting governors and county and national government officials.<\/p>\n
Governors Mike Sonko (Nairobi), Ferdinand Waititu (Kiambu) and Moses Lenolkulal (Samburu) and Sospeter Ojaamong (Busia) have been charged in court with graft-related cases, as well as former governors Evans Kidero and Daniel Waithaka.\u00a0\u201cIn 2019, we filed several civil suits to recover government assets especially land and property allocated irregularly to former powerful government officers and their associates,\u201d he said.\u00a0He says the commission has conducted several system reviews for government organisations and entities and educational awareness as a way of addressing the issue of corruption.<\/p>\n
How many cases and top officials are under probe and nature of charges?There are numerous governors, MPs and county officials and top government officials on our radar. In fact, we are through with investigating three county bosses . The other cases are active, however, the suspension of the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act by the court has slowed the process. We have sought an advisory at the Supreme Court.Irregular compensation for land and abuse of office by former Chairman of the National Land Commission\u00a0Muhammad\u00a0Swazuri\u00a0and senior officials\u00a0involving\u00a0Sh109 million.<\/p>\n
Deputy Auditor General Stephen\u00a0Kinuthia\u00a0and other senior officials for alleged irregular procurement of Audit Vault Software at office of the Auditor General\u00a0involving\u00a0Sh100 million.Kiambu Governor Ferdinand\u00a0Waititu\u00a0and other senior county officials for alleged irregular award of tender\u00a0amounting to\u00a0Sh588 million.<\/p>\n
Samburu Governor Moses\u00a0Lenolkulal\u00a0for alleged conflict of interest in supply of fuel\u00a0to\u00a0Samburu\u00a0County Government amounting to Sh84 million\u00a0Nairobi Governor Mike\u00a0Sonko\u00a0and other senior County officials\u00a0for irregular payments for garbage collection services in Nairobi County amounting to Sh357 million.Busia Governor Sospeter Ojaamong is charged among others with scheme to defraud county of Sh8 million between March and September 2014.One of the strategies\u00a0being employed by\u00a0EACC is investigation of High Impact Cases based on persons involved, value of loss and public interest. Some of the recent cases that we have concluded and top officials charged include:\u00a0Kisumu Speaker Onyango\u00a0Oloo, former Lake Basin Development Authority Peter Managing Director\u00a0Anguko\u00a0Abuok\u00a0and other senior LBDA officials for alleged irregular procurement and inflation of cost of construction of\u00a0Lake Basin Development Authority (LBDA) mall\u00a0amounting to\u00a0Sh4.1 billion.<\/p>\n
Cash held as exhibits in old currency, what happens to those cases?Before the end of September 30, 2019 when\u00a0Sh1,000 notes\u00a0were demonetised, EACC returned the old currencies in its possession to the Central Bank of Kenya to record the value and demonetise the notes. The notes\u00a0were\u00a0then\u00a0returned to the commission for purposes of being used as evidence in the ongoing cases.\u00a0Low conviction rate, what are you doing to improve this… could it be about evidence?The commission strives to ensure that the evidence collected meet the set threshold for a likelihood to result to a conviction. The evidence is further subjected to an\u00a0independent review by the Director of Public Prosecutions who has to satisfy himself on the strength of the evidence placed before him. \u00a0A low conviction therefore means there are other factors that come to play beside the evidence in an inquiry file. For instance, slow judicial process may result in death of key witnesses, witnesses being compromised or intimidated\u00a0among others. These examples may affect the strength of a cases and result to acquittal.<\/p>\n
The commission is working closely with other players in the criminal justice chain to strengthen\u00a0collaboration, coordination and cooperation\u00a0through various outfits such as Multi-Agency Team, which involves law enforcement agencies and the\u00a0National Council on Administration of Justice\u00a0that brings together a wider network of agencies.\u00a0How do you sensitise public on national values, ethics, especially regarding politicians obtaining clearance to contest despite questionable past? For instance, EACC is after Nairobi governor yet he secured the nod of relevant agencies.\u00a0The commission employs a multi-pronged approach to raise awareness on the dangers of corruption and to implore on the public to elect leaders of integrity.The strategies which include media outreach, training and integrity clubs target various sectors of our society from professional bodies, market places, religious sector and most importantly the young children.We, however, as a country need to indoctrinate our national values in all our endeavours and to remain true patriots.There is a worrying trend in our society to glorify the corrupt and the unjust in the society. The bar on matters touching on ethics and integrity is so high and almost similar to criminal offenses of beyond reasonable doubt.\u00a0The EACC undertakes vetting of persons seeking elective positions and recommends their suitability or otherwise to the IEBC. EACC does not have the power to enforce its recommendations to the IEBC.\u00a0How is your relationship with ODPP, DCI and Asset Recovery Agency?Contrary to the public perception, which is fuelled by corruption fighting back, the commission enjoys a great working relationship with ODPP, DCI and Asset Recovery Agency.There is no sibling rivalry among the agencies and the silo mentality which may have existed\u00a0due to government bureaucracy and red-tape was brought down through the Multi Agency Team approach.For example EACC investigators undertake basic investigations course upon employment which is facilitated by the DCI.We also facilitate specialised joint training of officers from DCI, ODPP and ARA.\u00a0On the other hand the success in prosecution of corruption by the ODPP is dependent on the quality of investigations by EACC as well\u00a0as DCI.We all recognise this fact and we hold bi-weekly meeting to thrash out any investigative gaps.Our lawyers also support the prosecutors during prosecutions of cases in court.We are continuously working to strengthen the criminal justice system as we are as strong the weakest link.\u00a0What is the main achievements in the last year since you joined the commission? \u00a0\u00a0In 2019, we recovered public assets which were illegally acquired by individual worth approximately\u00a0Sh22.56 billion and averted loss worth approximately Sh135 billion through disruptions.\u00a0This is a significant improvement\u00a0compared to\u00a0Sh2.4 billion\u00a0recovered and Sh14.5 billion of loss averted\u00a0in 2018. It is an indication that\u00a0the focus\u00a0in strengthening our asset tracing and recovery units\u00a0is bearing fruits.In 2019, we have also finalised investigations into high impact cases touching on both levels of governments.What are your\u00a0challenges so far?Budget constraints:\u00a0Budget allocation for FY 2019-20 is\u00a0Sh 2.9 billion;\u00a0out of which\u00a0Sh 1.9\u00a0billion\u00a0(66 per cent) is\u00a0set aside for\u00a0emoluments\u00a0and the balance being\u00a0Sh996 million\u00a0(34 per cent) is to be utilised for operations.This is not adequate to counter the scourge of corruption in the country.<\/p>\n
High staff turn-over particularly for specialised\u00a0professions\u00a0such as lawyers and forensic investigators due to their specialised skills making them highly marketable in the financial, banking and international sectors.\u00a0Slow judicial process. For example, there are at least\u00a0357 cases worth approximately\u00a0Sh8.5 billion pending at various Land and Environment Court in the country where the commission seeks to recover public property.However, the\u00a0backlog in the courts\u00a0hinders expeditious disposal as the next available date for hearing a fresh matter is sometime next year.\u00a0Interference with witnesses\/evidence\u00a0\u2013\u00a0interference with key witnesses through bribes or threats and intimidation and arson\u00a0of offices particularly in county\u00a0governments to destroy evidence.\u00a0Have you ever received a call from any quarter seeking to influence investigations?No.\u00a0How many files are lying at your desk waiting for action?None.\u00a0When an investigation is concluded the file is reviewed by the Enforcement Committee of the commission which is chaired by a commissioner.The results of the investigations with the recommendations is then submitted to the DPP as required by law.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the past year, he says EACC has targeted county and national government officials to bring sanity in the public service by arraigning four sitting governors and county and national government officials. Governors Mike Sonko (Nairobi), Ferdinand Waititu (Kiambu) and Moses Lenolkulal (Samburu) and Sospeter Ojaamong (Busia) have been charged in court with graft-related cases, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":673,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5,8],"tags":[396,393,394,395],"class_list":["post-672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","category-homepage-english","tag-eacc","tag-ferdinand-waititu","tag-mike-sonko","tag-twalib-mbarak"],"yoast_head":"\n