Kisii Senator Richard Onyonka clashed with the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) deputy chief executive Abdi Mohamud over bribery in the commission.
Speaking when he appeared before the Senate Committee probing the Finland Scholarships scandal on Tuesday, Mohamud said that he had heard Onyonka on TV and radio on many occasions accusing the anti-graft body of being corrupt.
He went on to say that this paints a bad picture of the entity that is supposed to help the country fight corruption.
“I’ve heard Onyonka on many occasions on live TV and Radio, indicating that if you have an issue with EACC just take a briefcase. I would want to talk to him as a Kenyan and honourable member, when you make such allegations without substantiating it really portrays a very negative image of a public institution that is supposed to fight corruption,” Mohamud said.
This prompted Onyonka to respond insisting that he should not assume that he does not know what goes on at the EACC.
The Senator asked Mohamud to state how many graft cases have been forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecution and taken to court, to which he said he had no response.
Onyonka insisted that if the EACC deputy CEO wants him to come with a briefcase with money on behalf of someone they are investigating he can do that.
“How many cases has EACC investigated and handed over to the DPP? You don’t know… Don’t pretend we don’t know what we are doing and I’m not asking you to accuse anybody unfairly.”
The EACC deputy CEO said that all he wanted to clarify was whether Onyonka has come across EACC officers receiving briefcases of money from crimes they are investigating.
“For EACC image is everything. If we lose image we better close shop and just go. It is very easy to portray someone as corrupt,” Mohamud said.
It took the intervention of the committee members to stop the exchange.
This comes even as the EACC chief executive officer Twalib Mbarak comes to the end of his term.
He is expected to leave in January 2025, after serving his one six-year term.
The EACC has previously been on the spot over weak cases, which take years without much results coming out of it.
The anti-graft body has been seeking a change of laws to grant it the powers to prosecute the people it investigates.
Currently, EACC only investigates and hands over cases to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) who then decides whether to charge or not.
Many of the probed cases by EACC get referred back for further probe.
Source: theStars .co.ke
Original writer: [email protected] (BRIAN ORUTA)