EACC wants files on CS Chirchir, Sonko and Tunai closed

Nairobi Senator Mike Sonko who was being investigated together with Chirchir on accusations that they sought the illegal award of a Kenya Pipeline Company tender/FILE

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 5 – The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission has recommended the closure of investigation files on the suspended Transport, Agriculture and Energy Cabinet Secretaries Michael Kamau, Felix Koskei and Davis Chirchir respectively.

Nairobi Senator Mike Sonko who was being investigated together with Chirchir on accusations that they sought the illegal award of a Kenya Pipeline Company tender in order to unlawfully make Sh1.4 billion is also on the list.

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has also recommended the closure of the inquiry into Narok Governor Samuel Ole Tunai and two Narok County officials who had been accused of flouting procurement law, mismanaging county resources and nepotism when hiring.

Tunai and his government were the subject of an opposition-led protest in January over alleged mismanagement during which two people died.

Kamau who answered to charges of illegally ordering the re-design of a road in Kimilili is now unlikely to face additional charges on the accusation that he illegally contracted a Chinese firm to undertake 80 percent of the clearing and forwarding of imported cargo at the Port of Mombasa for a period of 14 years.

The file on Koskei which the EACC has recommended be closed has to with the complaint that he, “secretly,” awarded permits for the duty-free importation of sugar despite the national policy restricting duty-free sugar imports in order to protect local millers who would be unable to compete.

Already the inquiry into allegations that Koskei illegally leased a hundred acres of Kenya Veterinary Vaccine Production Institute (KEVEVAPI) land in Tigoni, Kiambu to plant potatoes was closed but he has been listed as a prosecution witness against KEVEVAPI’s Managing Director and Head of Supply Chain Management.

Koskei, Kamau and Chirchir were three of five Cabinet Secretaries suspended by President Uhuru Kenyatta in March to allow the EACC investigate complaints filed against them.

The other two, suspended Labour Cabinet Secretary Kazungu Kambi and Lands Cabinet Secretary Charity Ngilu, will also not face abuse of office charges on irregular appointments to the National Social Security Fund and fraud in the purchase of squatter land in Likoni respectively after the DPP directed that those files be closed for lack of evidence.

About The Author

OLIVE BURROWS

With a decade of storytelling under her belt, Olive Burrows has been with Capital FM for the last four years and perhaps most notably interviewed US President Barack Obama. Committed to asking the hard questions and telling the story in the most engaging way possible, she has also interviewed Melinda Gates, a UK Minister and severally had the opportunity to sit across from President Uhuru Kenyatta and address the pressing issues of the day. Other notables she has had occasion to seek answers from are UN Secretary General António Guterres and John Kerry in his time as US Secretary of State.

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