Corruption scandals a plan to 'finish' DP Ruto: Ndii

A top strategist in opposition leader Raila Odinga’s circles has made a sensational claim that the current revelations of corruption in government are a plan to ‘finish’ Deputy President William Ruto politically.

According to Dr David Ndii, the deputy president is being targeted by unnamed people to carry the blame of corruption scandals so as to scuttle his chances of clinching the presidency in 2022, and at the same time to sanitise President Uhuru Kenyatta’s legacy.

2017 ELECTIONS

“It’s like in the Bible where Jesus cast out demons from people and put them in pigs and then the pigs went over a cliff. So if you want to sanitise Uhuru Kenyatta, you have to cast out the demon of corruption (that occurred) over the first four years which he presided over and put it somewhere.

“The convenient place to put this is in William Ruto and his patronage network. So what you are seeing is an exercise of self-preservation and I think it is the wrong way to go about it,” he said on Sunday night during an interview with KTN News.

The economist claimed the president is seeking a way of legitimising his leadership after a hotly contested 2017 election in which Mr Odinga went ahead to be ‘sworn in’ as the people’s president under the National Super Alliance (Nasa).

But Government Spokesman Eric Kiraithe who was also a panellist at the interview, dismissed Dr Ndii’s allegations and asserted that the Jubilee government recognises that there are criminals inside government and it is committed to ensuring they face the law.

Mr Kiraithe said: “Kenyans should get it clear that the deputy president is part and parcel of the efforts to fight corruption in Kenya. This is not a political game. It is about accounting for public money. Seeming to ride a dead political horse over the bitterness of a lost election for far too long is beside the point.”

Mr Ruto is on record telling those involved in the scandals to carry their own cross as he called on anti-graft agencies to deal firmly with all who are implicated.

A number of corruption scandals have rocked different government agencies such as the National Youth Service, National Cereals and Produce Board, Kenya Pipeline, Kenya Power and latest Kenya Forest Service with fears that billions of public funds were stolen.

NYS PROBE

On Sunday, the Director of Public Prosecution Noordin Haji disclosed that his office received 10 files over investigations on the Sh9 billion NYS scandal from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations.

This step is expected to lead to arrests and prosecution of some of the suspects if it will be established that there is adequate evidence to charge them in court.

Mr Haji also directed the Inspector-General of Police Joseph Boinnet to initiate investigations on the Kenya Power scandal and submit the file to his office within the next 21 days.