Uhuru furious with Cabinet members fingered over graft

President Uhuru Kenyatta chairs a Cabinet meeting at State House, Nairobi. (File, Standard)

A furious President Uhuru Kenyatta faced his Cabinet, tongue-lashed them over corruption claims and ominously warned of impending turbulence.

The Thursday meeting at State House was no ordinary one, according to sources who spoke to the Sunday Standard in confidence.

Quite taken aback by claims of massive corruption levelled against the CSs, the Head of State made it clear that he was not taking claims that his own appointees may have shared kickbacks lying down.

“The President was very blunt with the CSs. He was particularly irked by the multi-billion shilling dams’ issue. He told the CSs involved that they should be ready to carry their own cross if they failed to flag out glaring flaws under their watch,” said a source within the Presidency.

As the president was reading the riot act to his appointees, a multi-agency team that had been in Italy for over a week chasing after the intricacies of the bribery web involving the CSs was on its way back home.

The team sought to be enjoined in a case where an Italian firm has filed for liquidation in Rome amid claims that it may have coughed so much kickbacks to government officials to the point of going bankrupt.

CMC di Ravenna is an Italian construction conglomerate that is building three mega dams in the Rift Valley worth more than Sh90 billion. Last year, the company received Sh4.9 billion down payment for the design of Arror multi-purpose dam in Elgeyo Marakwet County.

The team is expected to prepare a detailed report on its findings although advance reports have indicated that four CSs are in for questioning on the matter.

Cabinet performance

At the Cabinet meeting, the president is also said to have told the Cabinet committee chaired by Interior CS Fred Matiang’i to flex its muscles on Cabinet performance, including delays in accomplishing government projects.

A CS who was in attendance said the president looked quite disappointed: “The president attributed derailed implementation of his manifesto and the Big Four agenda to runaway graft.”

A day after the meeting, Matiang’i led his committee to a closed-door meeting with Chief Justice David Maraga in a bid to unlock Sh30 billion worth of projects stalled in litigation.

“The Cabinet committee has identified prolonged adjudication of these cases as one of the major setbacks in the delivery life of national government projects,” a statement from the ministry of Interior said.

The team that visited Maraga comprised Attorney General Kihara Kariuki, CSs Faridah Karoney (Lands) and James Macharia (Transport), Solicitor General Kennedy Ogeto and Interior PS Kibicho Karanja.

Some of the affected projects include Olkaria-Lessos-Kisumu electricity transmission line at Sh18.2 billlion, the Mariakini substation at Sh3 billion, the Ethiopia-Kenya transmission line at Sh62.854 billion, the Mwea irrigation development project (Sh9.4billion), the Kisumu water supply project (Sh3.66 billion), Lessos–Tororo transmission line (Sh8.8 billion) and Yatta Dam water supply project (Sh6.5 billion).

In 2015, Uhuru dropped CSs whose ministries had been adversely mentioned in various scandals in the list of shame tabled as an addendum in Parliament. Felix Koskei (Agriculture), Charity Ngilu (Lands), David Chirchir (Energy), Kazungu Kambi (Labour) and Michael Kamau (Transport and Infrastructure) lost their jobs. Later, Anne Waiguru (Devolution) also had to take leave, allegedly on doctor's advice, even though National Youth Service was also embroiled in a Sh791M scam.