{UAH} Edmund/Pojim/WBK: GAITHO: Dawn raid spells doom for Waiguru’s ‘soft-landing’ bid - Opinion | Daily Nation
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GAITHO: Dawn raid spells doom for Waiguru's 'soft-landing' bid - Opinion
When Ms Anne Waiguru's resistance crumbled and she finally quit as Cabinet Secretary for Planning and Devolution on purported health grounds, she made the curious request for President Uhuru Kenyatta to assign her 'lighter' duties.
She might not have imagined at the time that instead of a soft landing, she would suffer the indignity of a dawn raid on her house by anti-corruption detectives.
The series of early Tuesday morning raids on the homes of key personalities mentioned in the National Youth Service scandal could serve as a powerful indicator that the authorities are finally moving with resolve against corruption.
The houses of nearly a half dozen top officials were stormed in the coordinated action by detectives from the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, but all attention is bound to fall on Ms Waiguru, who previously had seemed an untouchable.
Throughout the storm blowing over the NYS saga, President Uhuru Kenyatta publicly backed his embattled Cabinet secretary, raising questions over why she was getting preferential treatment, while colleagues mentioned in corruption investigations were required to step aside.
The President's strong support for Ms Waiguru against the Opposition and public clamour for her removal had the unintended effect of calling into question his stated commitment to the fight against corruption.
The officers who raided the houses of Ms Waiguru, Planning Principal Secretary Peter Mangiti, NYS Director-General Nelson Githinji and his deputy Adan Harakhe indicated that they were looking for evidence in the Sh700 million NYS theft.
GITHINJI'S POWER'S REDUCED
Already, Dr Mangiti and Githinji have been charged with interfering with investigations by trying to block Mr Harakhe from pursuing the scandal.
The arraignments, a few days before Ms Waiguru threw in the towel, themselves raised eyebrows.
Opposition leader Raila Odinga warned that the two were being offered up as decoys in a bid to shield Ms Waiguru.
The charges also came a few days after Dr Mangiti stabbed Ms Waiguru in the back by 'erroneously' releasing documents to a National Assembly committee that exposed the scale of suspect purchases and payments by her office.
By the time the PS realised the error and tried to withdraw the documents, it was too late as he had already struck the final nail towards ending her tenure at the powerful ministry.
But instead of the authorities opening a new line of inquiry into the fresh allegations of waste and plunder, the response was to arrest and charge Dr Mangiti, as well as Mr Githinji, whose final days at NYS had been marked by a quiet conflict with Ms Waiguru over control of the suddenly enhanced kitty.
This culminated in Ms Waiguru stripping Mr Githinji of some of his powers and handing over control of money to Mr Harakhe.
When the Kenya Police DCI, rather than the EACC, was called in by the Cabinet secretary to investigate what initially was described as attempted theft, it was quickly established that Mr Harakhe's password had been used to breach the much-vaunted Ifmis (Integrated Financial Management Information System).
Ms Waiguru takes great pride in having introduced during her time as a Treasury technocrat.
Despite this, the police preferred to treat Mr Harakhe as an informant rather than a suspect, leading to accusations that DCI boss Ndegwa Muhoro was leading a cover-up rather than an honest investigation.
A lot has happened since then, and the dramatic events of Tuesday morning serve to put the Ministry of Planning and Devolution protagonists all in the same boat.
Whether the aggressive actions by the EACC will lead to anything concrete remains to be seen.
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