Carry your cross in graft war, Uhuru tells KPA bosses

Graft war: Uhuru tells KPA bosses to take responsibility

President Uhuru Kenyatta makes his remarks during the ceremony for flagging off a crude oil shipment, at Kipevu Oil Terminal in Mombasa on August 26, 2019. He said he is unrelenting in the quest to end graft. PHOTO | PSCU 

In Summary

• According to the EACC, the tender for the Kipevu oil terminal project was inflated from Sh12 billion to Sh59 billion

By MOHAMED AHMED
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President Uhuru Kenyatta has told senior Kenya Ports Authority officials named in the Sh40 billion Kipevu oil terminal scandal to carry their own crosses.

Mr Kenyatta said the officials should be ready to deal with the consequences of their misdeeds when Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti and Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji and their teams come calling.

“I want to tell them that there are people who have committed themselves to fighting corruption as a matter of life and death,” the President said Monday.

“Please, do not say it was me. I have not sent anyone to steal. Those guys are not playing.”

COST INFLATION

Speaking at the Mombasa port during the flagging off of Kenya’s first crude oil shipment, President Kenyatta said the government knows top KPA officials inflated tenders for the oil terminal and othe

“We know the amount that we have spent and the one you intended to spend on that project. We are monitoring the situation and watching you,” he said.

“We know the shoddy deals that you are involved in and the delays that you are staging for your own gains.”

At least 16 KPA officials, among them Managing Director Daniel Manduku and his predecessor Catherine Mturi-Wairi, have recorded statements with the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission over the scam.

The tender for the controversial project was inflated from Sh12 billion to Sh59 billion, according to the commission.

INTEGRITY

The EACC has at least 30 files on the case that it has been investigating since January.

The files have been forwarded to Mr Haji for perusal, with highly placed sources saying they were sent back to Mombasa for some gaps to be filled. The developments have led to talk of arrests.

President Kenyatta urged civil servants to have integrity. And that his government is committed to fighting corruption.