NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 2 – The government has once again spoken tough against corruption with President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga vowing on Tuesday that they would win the ongoing war on the vice.
Speaking at a conference on infrastructure at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre, the Head of State said the government would intensify the war on graft as his administration was committed to eradicating graft.
“If you hear that somebody has been sacked because of one or two kind of things, you do not have to forgive him. Tell him to learn, otherwise what use is he, he is trying to eat public money for nothing!” he warned.
He said the government will not relent in its commitment and will not spare public officials involved in squandering public money.
“Let us not have people who will seek to swindle the government, such people should not be alive, they shouldn’t really. People’s money should not be the subject of any decent human being to plan how to misuse it, no!” he said.
Speaking at the same function, Mr Odinga drew attention to corruption in infrastructure development, where he said colossal amounts of public money was lost.
He also said awarding of tenders for such contracts was highly corrupted due to cut throat competition among those intending to take up government projects.
“Corruption diverts the resources that we have at our disposal into private pockets and in the infrastructure field the amounts are usually very huge,” he said.
He asked ministries to reject tenders and contracts that were awarded unduly to ensure rules and regulations are followed.
The Premier noted that some ministries did not use funds allocated to them for development due to cases involving tendering of projects which he said led to delayed services.
“Ministries do not spend the money for development purposes because of greed within the industry. This is what we must deal with so that we can get value for money. People need roads, people need water, they need housing, we must ensure Kenyans get value for the money,” he said.
The two Principals have intensified their stand against corruption in recent weeks.
Last Friday, Kenya Anti Corruption Commission Director Patrick Lumumba announced that four Cabinet ministers and about 45 senior heads of parastatals were being investigated.
Already, former Higher Education Minister William Ruto and Foreign Affairs Minister Moses Wetangula and Permanent Secretary Thuita Mwangi have stepped aside following corruption allegations.
Nairobi Mayor Geophrey Majiwa also vacated office last week after he was charged over the Sh283million cemetery scandal.
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