NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 12 – Besieged Nairobi Mayor Geoffrey Majiwa has maintained that he will not resign despite being implicated in a cemetery land purchase scandal in which more than Sh259 million was fraudulently paid out.
Mr Majiwa instead accused the Kenya Anti Corruption Commission of breaking into his house and stealing personal documents.
He said on Friday that the anti corruption agency had so far refused to listen to his case and instead chosen to leak its incomplete report to the public.
“Why are they not coming to take a statement from me? They broke into my house without my knowledge. There are two warrants that you need to have; you must have a search warrant and in a case where you must break in you must have a break-in warrant. With my position I don’t need to go there (Integrity Centre); they must prepare themselves to come and take statement from me…they have been calling people so they must call me also,” he said.
Mr Majiwa who pleaded his innocence added that he was taking the KACC to court for leaking the report that implicated him before interrogating him. He also accused the anti corruption body of tarnishing his integrity and refuted claims that Prime Minister Raila Odinga asked him to step aside following the unearthing of the scandal.
Asked whether the PM had urged him to step down, Mr Majiwa said: “I meet the PM every other time not necessarily because there is this taking place now but I said we consulted with him.”
Mr Majiwa’s stand came barely hours after councillors led by Mutunga Mutungi demanded his resignations by next week Wednesday. But the mayor instead ridiculed those calling for his resignation and said they were not justified to point accusing fingers at him.
“Councillor Mutungi is elected by nobody in this City so he does not represent any residents in this matter. The residents of the City rejected him during the election. He was only assisted by the PNU party. I am surprised he is talking about the residents,” he retorted.
Mr Majiwa who however admitted there was corruption at the NCC added that the newly revealed con was a political witchhunt. He said it was a cover up for other corruption shams at his institution.
“The paymaster’s office is being broken into so that some records can be taken away. What does that tell you? That these people are busy and they want to continue at all costs. I can never be intimidated,” he maintained.
Earlier in the day 27 councillors from both sides of the political divide signed a joint petition asking the Mayor to quit over the fraudulent acquisition of the cemetery land in Mavoko County Council. The councillors accused the mayor of ignoring resignation calls from the Prime Minister’s office as well as the public.
“It is like fighting the Pharaoh; he was so adamant in Egypt but Moses led his people from a stubborn person. So the mayor might be stubborn because of the embarrassment that he is going to face in public but he has already embarrassed himself in public because he has failed in his duty as a mayor in this city,” said Mr Mutungi.
“We borrow the Prime Minister’s cue; we are actually going to personalise corruption and we are going to fight those individuals who are here to defraud the public. We are not trying to ethnicise or give any political opinion. It is fighting corruption on both ends of the political divide,” Mr Mutungi said.
A few minutes after Mr Mutungi and his team addressed the media, a section of other councillors led by Deputy Mayor George Aladwa also called for a press conference. They said that they had not seen the KACC report and instead accused their counterparts of relying on a Parliamentary report implicating the mayor.
Mr Aladwa also said he was not interested in the mayoral seat which he would take up temporarily in the event that the mayor resigned, “I am comfortable where I am and I already have a seat.”
Mr Mutungi and his team have threatened to go to the streets next week if the mayor does not resign
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