"Kila mtu abebe msalaba wake" All those named over graft must step aside, President Uhuru Kenyatta insists

President Uhuru Kenyatta speaking at a forum on March 4, 2015. PHOTO | JENNIFER MUIRURI | NATION MEDIA GROUP 

In Summary

• Speaking at a diaspora conference in Nairobi, the President told those resisting the call to step aside to “carry their own cross” and allow for investigations into their conduct
• The list, which was tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, had 175 State and public officials accused of engaging in corruption.
• Governors named on the list and the Opposition Cord, led by Raila Odinga, have poked holes in the EACC report, saying it is a selective score-settling mission.

By AGGREY MUTAMBO
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President Uhuru Kenyatta has insisted that everyone named in corruption scandals should leave office regardless of whether they were elected or appointed.

Speaking at a diaspora conference in Nairobi, the Kenyan head of state told those resisting to step aside to “carry their cross” and allow for investigations into their conduct.

“An accusation is not a sentence. And so, I am repeating: those named should step aside… I can’t sack people if they haven’t been proven guilty. Kila mtu abebe msalaba wake (everyone should carry their own cross),” he said.

The issue of leaving office for investigations arose last week when President Kenyatta submitted to Parliament a list by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission of people accused of having a hand in corrupt dealings.

The list, which was tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, had 175 State and public officials accused of engaging in corruption. 

It includes elected officials such as governors, senators, MPs and members of county assemblies. It also names high-ranking officials such as Cabinet secretaries, principal secretaries, directors of State corporations and departmental heads in ministries.

President Kenyatta was responding to a question on whether it would be proper for elected officials named in scandals to step aside. 

POKED HOLES
Governors named on the list and the Opposition Cord, led by Raila Odinga, have poked holes in the EACC report, saying it is a selective score-settling mission.

Bomet Governor Isaac Ruto, Peter Munya of Meru, Cyprian Awiti of Homa Bay, Nairobi’s Evans Kidero and Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho have publicly said they will not step aside.

But the President said no one was special on the list and everyone ought to leave office for investigations to clear him.

“This is an issue that is of concern to all of us. Let us not use this to play politics. Let us handle it properly, let us handle it as a nation. Let us not handle it from an ethnic point of view,” he said.

“Corruption is corruption. It affects you whether you are a Jubilee supporter or whether you are an ODM supporter. It affects you whether you are from eastern, whether you come from western Kenya, whether you come from wherever. Let us do this together.”

The President was addressing a gathering of more than 500 participants of mainly Kenyans living abroad, in a conference the government hopes will encourage them to invest back home.

PAST REGIMES

The meeting, under the banner "Development and Innovation: Opportunities for Diaspora", is being held at the Windsor Golf Hotel & Country Club.

The President also used the podium to explain why he apologised to Kenyans for wrongs committed by past regimes when he addressed Parliament last week.

“As the President of this country, I recognise the fact that governments are continuing. I think it is necessary for us to be able to put that closure.

“We cannot put that closure unless the government acknowledging its misdeeds (and) apologises.

“We must be able to bring closure to our past, to be able to forgive each other for whatever errors or misdeeds that we have made in order to embrace the future.”