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Ruto top aide Keittany grilled over Sh100m to impeach CS Waiguru

Ruto top aide Keittany grilled over Sh100m to impeach CS Waiguru
Ruto top aide Keittany grilled over Sh100m to impeach CS Waiguru

Nairobi, Kenya: Deputy President William Rutoโ€™s suspended Chief of Staff Maryanne Keitany was questioned for almost seven hours over claims she funneled Sh100 million into a campaign to impeach Devolution Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru using Members of Parliament.

Keittany, the highest ranking civil servant in the DPโ€™s office, was also accused of abuseย of office andย misappropriation of a further Sh100 million, according to an Ethics andย Anti- Corruption Commission ( EACC) dossier that President Uhuru Kenyatta submitted toย Parliament last month.

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The corruption claims have implicated top officials, including Cabinet secretaries andย Principal secretaries, to leave office for 60 days to pave way for investigations in one of the mostย far-reaching purges the country has witnessed.

By virtue of the position, the Chief of Staff plays a key role in the implementation of key decisions in the office, management of the DPโ€™s diary including who he meets, and is often perceived to beย shadow of the big man.

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Yesterday, Kitany arrived at the EACC offices at Nairobiโ€™s Integrity Centre at about 9a.m. and left after 4p.m. after declining to talk to journalists.

She smiled as she walked to her car flanked by her two lawyers who also refused to address the waiting journalists who shot questions at her.

At one point Ms Kitany, a former ICT manager at Kenya Railways, seemed to want to talk but one ofย her lawyers ushered her into the car.

The EACC report alleges Kitany โ€œdiverted Sh100 million from the Legislative and Inter-Governmental Relations Office to mobilise MPs in the abortive campaign in July 2014 to impeach powerful Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru.โ€

According to the list released by the President, Kitany was โ€œaccused of abuse of office and misappropriation of Sh200 millionโ€.

Yesterday, EACC officials said she was asked to explain her relationship with Waiguru, among other matters.

The impeachment motion, sponsored by Igembe South MP Mithika Linturi, which had caused anxietyย in the ruling Jubilee coalition, was dropped after the President reportedly personally intervened in the matter.

Linturi outraged his colleagues after he failed to turn up in the House to give notice of the motion, which saw it thrown out on a technicality. He has however denied receiving money to induce him to kill the motion.

When EACCโ€™s allegations of bribery over the Motion came to light, Linturi said the perception that ย he was among those who pocketed the cash had prompted him to explain the circumstances under which he dropped the motion.

He told the National Assembly that President Uhuru Kenyattaโ€™s aide Jomo Gecaga and Solicitor General Njee Muturi pushed him to drop the motion at several meetings in Nairobi.

The MP said Waiguruโ€™s removal bid was hatched by majority leaders Aden Duale (National Assembly) and Kindiki Kithure (Senate) in the office of Majority Whip Katoo ole Metito. Duale is one of the senior-most members of Rutoโ€™s United Republican Party (URP), which is a partner of The National Alliance, to which Kindiki and Metito belong.

Mr Linturi alleged that Waiguru sent MPs Cecily Mbarire (Runyenjes) and Kareke Mbiuki (Maara) to cajole him to drop the motion.

โ€œI spoke to Waiguru twice on the phone, but I told her that I would not drop the motion,โ€ Linturi told the House.

He also spoke of another meeting at which MPs Mwiti Irea (Central Imenti), Alice Ngโ€™angโ€™a (Thika Town) and Kimani Ichungโ€™wa (Kikuyu) were present when the Presidentโ€™s men allegedly forced him to sign a document withdrawing the motion. The letter was delivered to the office of National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi at night.

โ€œI am willing to appear at the Ethics and Anti- Corruption Commission to shed light on this matter,โ€ said the MP who had landed in trouble over Meru Countyโ€™s supremacy wars that saw him stripped of his position as the regionโ€™s Parliamentary Group (PG) Chairman.

Source-standardmedia.co.ke

 

 

Ruto top aide Keittany grilled over Sh100m to impeach CS Waiguru

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