Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua alleges witch-hunt over political stand, vows to soldier on

By Sophiah Muthoni; Thursday, July 3rd 2014 

Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua (centre) flanked by other leaders from the county address the Press at a Nairobi hotel, Thursday. Dr Mutua said he was being targeted over his dissenting political stand with CORD leaders. [PHOTO: COLLINS KWEYU/STANDARD]

Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua says different commissions and agencies including the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) are out to intimidate him after he declared that he would not be involved in political rallies.

In a Press statement, Dr Mutua said the intimidating tactics were also geared towards slowing down his development programme for Machakos.

“Since the day I announced that I would not be party to political rallies that might spin out of control and burn Kenya, I have been on the receiving end of intimidation from several agencies and commissions,” he said.

He displayed to the media a letter he had received from EACC summoning him to answer queries on the alleged irregular purchase of 16 vehicles for the County Executive Committee members of his county, a process he said he was not involved in.

“I was reliably informed by an EACC employee that they had been tasked to find fault, and I quote: ‘Bring Mutua down in whatever way possible.’ The complainant to EACC was none other than Machakos Senator Johnstone Muthama and he seems to have received political backing from within the echelons of EACC,” said Mutua.

Yesterday, EACC hit back at Mutua. In a statement sent a few hours after the governor’s Press conference, the commission said: “EACC wishes to assure Mutua that his apparent political opponent, Muthama, has no capacity to direct or influence investigations or any action by the commission.”

The statement signed by the commission’s spokesperson Yassin Amaro added that they were not acting under anybody’s influence and any investigations or other actions by the commission were under the confines of their mandate.

Scribe’s call

Mutua said a day after receiving the letter from EACC, an officer from the Auditor General’s office informed him that the audit on the Machakos County government was being done in a way that would ensure he was incriminated directly.

“The officer said the audit was meant to incriminate me because I was moving too fast and unsettling the old political order,” he said.

The third ‘intimidating act’ according to the governor was a call from a journalist from one of the leading media houses saying he had in his possession a letter from the Ombudsman to Mutua’s county claiming allegations had been made on ongoing works and tenders. Mutua said he was yet to receive the letter that required him to go and defend himself.

“These are just a few of about seven incidents that appear to be well synchronised and emanating from a single control room. Their timing, all happening in succession, is suspect,” said Mutua.

The governor insisted it was all a witch-hunt, adding that he would not be intimidated. EACC had sent Mutua a summon letter with regard to the 16 vehicles. In his Press briefing, Mutua said he had replied through his lawyers saying he would not appear as requested. EACC said they would leave it to him to decide whether or not to appear before the commission.