Kenya: Foreign Minister Resigns Over Alleged Corruption
By Henry Neondo
NAIROBI---Moses Wetang'ula, Kenya’s Foreign Affairs minister has resigned. His resignation follows closely that of his Permanent Secretary, Thuita Mwangi.
The two stepped aside to pave way for probe into the Sh1.1bn (US$12.5 millio9n) Tokyo embassy scandal.
"For the sake of Sirisia, Kenya, friends, PNU and family, I have decided to step aside to give government room for investigations," said Wetangula during a news conference at the Ministry's office in Nairobi.
His resignation also forestalls debate by Parliament set for Wednesday afternoon on whether to expunge his name from a report by the Defence and Foreign Relations Committee, which recommended that the minister and his permanent secretary step aside to facilitate investigations.
"I have consciously taken this decision as an expression of my confidence that at the conclusion of the on-going investigations by the Kenya Anti Corruption Commission, the appropriateness of my engagement with all aspects of the operations pertaining to this matter will undoubtedly be established," he said in a statement.
"I step aside purely as a matter of personal dignity and professional integrity – indeed, the very same dignity and integrity I have upheld in the performance of my duties for more than twenty-two years of public service at various levels in the Government."
On Tuesday, the minister had spiritedly argued in Parliament that a minister “does not procure, the minister does not sign cheques, the minister does not sign vouchers, the minister does not chair committees, the minister does not deal with budgets…”
The resignation comes soon after another former Minister William Ruto appeared in court to face charges of corruption.
Following the enactment of a new constitution on August 4, the Kenya Anti Corruption Commission (Kacc) has boldly moved to investigate a number of deals it considers shoddy.
For example in the ministry of Foreign Affairs alone, KACC is investigating embassies in Islamabad (Pakistan), Brussels (Belgium), Lagos (Nigeria) and Cairo in Egypt.
In Lagos, the ministry sold two plots said to have been in “one of the choicest areas” of the former political capital of West Africa’s largest country.
The plots were next to the homes of former Nigerian president Ibrahim Babangida, the residence of the British High Commissioner and the residence of the governor of Lagos, among others.
A government team had recommended that Kenya retains the properties but the ministry sold them, claiming they wanted to build a new embassy in Abuja. In the end no embassy was built in Abuja; the government rents premises in Lagos for the embassy.
Over Sh80 million (US$ 1 million) from the sale is not satisfactorily accounted for and a lawyer who acted for the ministry in the transaction is still demanding millions of shillings as legal fees.
In Brussels, the ministry lost an estimated Sh84 million (US$1.05 million) by asking the owner of a building, more than 90 years old, to include the cost of valueless furniture in the price.