The taskforce comprises persons from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) as well as EACC officials who have been handling the cases until now.
NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 30 – A multi-agency taskforce has been constituted to determine the way forward on the corruption probes against public officials whose names appear on a list authored by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) and presented in Parliament by President Uhuru Kenyatta.
The taskforce comprises persons from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) as well as EACC officials who have been handling the cases until now.
The taskforce was set up during a meeting held between the Director of Public Prosecutions and the EACC Chief Executive Halakhe Waqo on Monday morning in response to President Kenyatta’s 60-day deadline for the conclusion of the investigations into public officials who include five Cabinet Secretaries.
“The investigating authority must ensure that the Director of Public Prosecutions has received the subject files without delay,” President Kenyatta directed when he presented the confidential EACC report including their names to Parliament on Thursday.
READ: 5 Cabinet Secretaries, 12 Governors in EACC graft list
In a press statement sent to newsrooms on Monday, Waqo said majority of the cases were at an advanced stage or concluded.
On Thursday, as part of his second State of the Nation Address, President Kenyatta asked the public officials named in the report to step aside for two months so as not to interfere with investigations and so far all five of the Cabinet Secretaries named have heeded the directive.
WATCH: CS Kambi ready to die if found guilty of corruption
President Kenyatta has also insisted that Governors under investigation too must resign irrespective of their elective positions.
READ: Uhuru tells governors being elected not a right to loot
The county heads who include Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero and the Council of Governors Chairman Isaac Ruto have however declined to do so denying any knowledge of being under investigation.
Also required to step aside by President Kenyatta for investigations were six principal secretaries and several parastatal heads of whom the following have complied:
Mr. Francis Kimemia, Secretary to the Cabinet.
Mr. Mutea Iringo, Principal Secretary for Defence.
Mr. Nduva Muli, Principal Secretary State Department of Transport.
Mr. Patrick Omutia, Principal Secretary for Mining.
Mr. James Teko, Principal Secretary State Department of Water.
Ms. Marianne Kittany, Chief of Staff in the Office of the Deputy President.
Ms. Esther Koimet, the Investment Secretary, National Treasury.
Ambassador Jane Waikenda, Deputy Head of Mission, Kenya Embassy South Africa.
Mr. Patrick Osero, Chairman Agricultural Finance Corporation
Dr. Silas Simiyu, Managing Director, Geothermal Development Company
Mr. Richard Langat, Managing Trustee NSSF
Mr. Evans Ngibuini, Acting Chief Executive, National Water Conservation and Pipeline Corporation
Mr. Alex Kabuga, Chief Executive, Kentrade
Ms. Lucy Mbugua, Managing Director, Kenya Airports Authority
Mr. Charles Tonui, Managing Director, Kenya Pipeline Corporation
Mr. Allan Chenane, Chief Executive, Tourism Fund/Catering Levy Trustee
The full list of those public officials under investigation by the EACC as submitted by President Kenyatta -– including members of the Legislature — is expected to come up for debate in Parliament on Tuesday.
About The Author
