President Uhuru Kenyatta appears to be shrugging off mounting pressure to suspend Devolution Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru over fresh reports of corruption in her docket, a decision informed by the likely political repercussions of balking to such calls.
The Sunday Nation established that whereas the Head of State and his deputy William Ruto had earlier agreed on immediately effecting a Cabinet reshuffle to placate public anger, a Friday State House meeting put things on the ice — delaying any such decision.
This was informed by a school of thought that suspending Ms Waiguru at the moment would embolden Opposition chief Raila Odinga and his Cord brigade, who have been calling for her firing in the past few months.
Talk was rife in government circles on Thursday that President Kenyatta would act decisively on returning from the swearing-in ceremony of the new Tanzanian President John Magufuli to save the government’s image, with sources saying that even the National Intelligence Service had recommended a “big announcement” to deflect public attention.
“After further consultations, I can say that chances of her losing the Cabinet slot for now are 50-50,” a source close to the presidency told the Sunday Nation.
Mr Odinga claims that Ms Waiguru’s name was deleted from a corruption dossier containing names of civil servants handed to Mr Kenyatta by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission in March.
