Kenya has known two noisy corruption affairs last week, and the consequences of those scandals don't seem close to fade away.
This Sunday, Attorney-General Amos Wako backed the government on the case of the criminal charges that is facing William Ruto, the Higher Education Minister.
The government chief legal advisor said he would advise President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga soon on the action to take against the minister. He won't reveal for now what that advice will be.
“As you know, I cannot make comments like other ministers and politicians. I have my clients, the two principals, and will advice them as required,” Mr Wako told journalists in Nairobi.
On Friday, the constitutional court ruled that the minister has a case to answer over the controversial sale of the Ngong forest land to the KPC nine years ago.
William Ruto and four other persons face fraud charges over the alleged sale of a piece of land in Ngong Forest to Kenya Pipeline Company Ltd for a total of Sh272 million. The minister allegedly received 96 million of Kenyan Shillings at various intervals during the alleged transaction.
On a press conference Saturday, the Minister alleged political vendetta... He stated that he was not a beneficiary of the transaction and that he never received money from Kenya Pipeline Company.
William Ruto has been Minister for Higher Education since 21 April 2010 after a cabinet reshuffle. He is also one of the two deputy party leaders of the Orange Democratic Movement, the party led by the Prime minister Raila Odinga.
He is known for his presidential ambitions for 2012.
Now his career is on the line following Friday court ruling
According to the law
Section 62 of the Anti-corruption and Economic Crimes Act stipulates that “a public officer who is charged with corruption or economic crime shall be suspended at half pay, with effect from the date of the charge.”
The President Mwai Kibaki has also always wanted to prove he really intends to tackle corruption. He has already been asking ministers — including his allies such as George Saitoti, Kiraitu Murungi and Amos Kimunya — faced with serious allegations of corruption to step aside until they are cleared.
Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs minister Moses Wetangula is targeted by MPs for another case of corruption - BBC Afrique reported on it last Wednesday.
Many MPs accuse him of misleading the government in a case of KSh 1.18 billion affair over buying some land in Japan for an Embassy. He is said to said to have ignored advice from the lawyer, architecture, the valuer and the Kenyans working in the Japanese Embassy.
Wetangula is thus to face the Parliament, but he managed to postpone the hearing scheduled on next Tuesday. The debate on the House report has been shelved at the last minute, and for the second time...
Affaire a suivre...
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