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State House to Odinga: Stop double-standards in war on graft


State House on Wednesday accused Cord leader Raila Odinga of double standards in the fight against corruption after he appeared to side with Kilifi governor Amason Kingi, whose government is accused of embezzling more than Sh51 million.

In an emailed statement, PSCU said Mr Odinga “has come out wearing a new hat: that of the chief advocate, spokesman and defender of besieged governors in ODM- controlled counties”.

“He wants a different standard to be applied in addressing county theft. As a national leader, it would serve Odinga well to attempt to be seen as consistent and even-handed,” read the statement in part.

Earlier in the day, Mr Odinga hailed Mr Kingi saying his administration had showed commitment to combat the vice by engaging the existing agencies charged with leading the war on graft, beside interdicting the 10 officers suspected to have been involved.

“Now this looks like a commitment to getting to the bottom of loss of public money. The County Government of Kilifi did not begin by defending the suspects. They have not begun by denying that money was lost. Governor Kingi and his government have not sought to spread the blame and pass the buck. They have not sought excuses by saying who else is suspected of corruption where,” said Mr Odinga.

“BORROW A LEAF”

“The Governor and his team have not lamented about lack of powers to fight corruption and theft. Instead, they have relied on the agencies that are controlled by and are at the disposal of the National Government to get to the bottom of the scam.”

The opposition chief challenged President Uhuru Kenyatta to “borrow a leaf” from the Kilifi with regard to the shameful scandal at Afya House.

“A leaf from Kilifi County could also help the President and his team get to the bottom of the scams like NYS and Eurobond that are making Kenyans lose faith in government,” he said.

But PSCU said Mr Odinga is not addressing the county corruption allegations with the sort of attitude that demonstrates zero-tolerance.

“Indeed, he is defensive, collusive and suspiciously tolerant. To Hon. Raila Odinga, the war against corruption is just politics. he wants it prosecuted on a political platform and that explains his latest statements,” the statement added.