Ruto hits out at professionals who 'rob Kenyans using pen and paper'

Deputy President William Ruto consoles an ailing Marua Nziwi at his home in Rabai, Kilifi County. The DP visited his home to launch Kenya Power's Last Mile connectivity project. [photo: DPPS]

Most of the corruption in Kenya is committed by white-collar criminals, according to Deputy President William Ruto. Mr Ruto asked lawyers and journalists to help the Government combat graft.

He made the appeal while opening the Law Society of Kenya’s (LSK) annual conference in Diani, Mombasa, before going to Kilifi to inspect Government projects.

The DP said major crimes could not succeed without the involvement of professionals like lawyers, engineers, accountants and auditors who he said used pens and paper to make false affidavits and fake documents, as well as launder money to fund terror activities.

“We have robbers using guns to steal from Kenyans and we have professionals using pen and paper to steal from Kenyans in equal measure. Such activities are not done by people who are fools, but professionals,” said Ruto, adding that most corruption occured during procurement.

The DP said the Jubilee administration was committed to combating corruption through the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations. He urged professionals to support the efforts.

He commended the private sector for introducing policies and programmes to fight corruption in their ranks and urged them to blacklist all companies found engaging in corruption in a bid to stamp it out.

“The Government has strengthened the rules on procurement to ensure that accounting officers are held responsible for mismanagement in any department,” said Ruto, adding that the Government no longer influenced tenders.

“We are making procurement transparent to ensure that tenders are awarded in accordance with rules and regulations,” he added.

Ruto cited the sacking of Cabinet secretaries last year to demonstrate Jubilee’s commitment to the war on public sector corruption.

He said that before the sackings, the cost of tarmacking one kilometre of road was Sh100 million but this has since dropped to Sh40 million.

“Together with the President, I asked why it cost a kilometre of tarmacked road Sh100 million. We were given long explanations. But today, we do it for between Sh30 and Sh40 million. It is just about being thorough and getting people to do the right thing,” he said.

Ruto also urged ordinary Kenyans to desist from giving or taking bribes.