Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru has said that the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) is being used to intimidate leaders whose political careers are on the line.
In a message after recording a statement with the EACC on Thursday, Ms Waiguru said she was summoned after she announced that she had taken a back seat on the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI).
“These latest summons were issued immediately after pronouncement about my political move. It’s now obvious EACC is being used to intimidate us to stay silent even when our political careers are on the line and our supporters tell us otherwise,” she said.
Waiguru added that the summon by the anti-graft body is political witch-hunt by people who want to influence the 2022 general elections.
“It is unfortunate that EACC has been roped in and it’s now the new vehicle being used to undermine our efforts to have squatters on the land settled. The summonses are witch-hunt, driven by people who are trying to influence the 2022 elections in Kirinyaga and succession politics in the region,” said the county chief.
“The summons by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) are ill-timed, politically instigated and have nothing to do with the purported investigations on misappropriation of funds.”
[Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru]
Waiguru announced over the weekend that she had been summoned to appear before the EACC twice after announcing that she had taken a break from pushing the BBI and that Mt Kenya region needed to rethink their strategy.
The summons said that she was going to answer for misappropriation of Sh52 million meant for the surveyor of the disputed South Ngariama land.
In her stamen, despite approval from the county assembly and the Kirinyaga County cabinet, the money has not been paid to anyone.
“It is important to note that of Ksh.52M, no shilling has been paid and therefore no monies have been lost,” said Waiguru.
She noted that in the last one year, her administration has received 250 summons to appear before EACC which have all been honoured but none of them has yielded the intended results by the anti-graft body.
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