Angwenyi Gichana
7 July 2008
Nairobi — The minister for Justice, National Cohesion and Constitutional Affairs has clarified that she did not call for the resignation of her embattled Finance colleague, Mr Amos Kimunya.
Ms Martha Karua said she had, at the homecoming ceremony for Kajiado South MP Katoo ole Metito, talked of the need to uphold transparency and accountability.
She said the Government had a duty to investigate issues raised by Parliament in relation to the Grand Regency saga and all other corruption cases.
The minister also cautioned politicians pointing fingers at others forgetting that they, too, were tainted. They would be pursued by the law, she told the ceremony.
Above board
"Our position still remains that we shall continue to be vigilant whenever a law is flouted. Since Kimunya has been mentioned in the sale of Grand Regency which is said not to have been above board, he should step aside pending investigations," she said.
Meanwhile, Education minister Sam Ongeri, has said the Grand Regency saga and pressure to hound Mr Kimunya out of office is part of the Kibaki succession war.
"If you look at this issue critically, you can see the Kibaki succession and the 2012 elections. These are clearly being played out," said the minister.
The censure motion on Mr Kimunya and subsequent calls to have him sacked or that he should resign were focused on the elections, he said.
Prof Ongeri told journalists during Nyamira district education day at Sironga Girls High School at the weekend, that some of those calling for the sacking of Mr Kimunya were not clean.
Mr Clean
"They are now playing Mr Clean in public yet they have been involved in corrupt deals in the past," said the Nyaribari Masaba MP.
He was accompanied by Public Health assistant minister James Gesami and North Mugirango Borabu MP Wilfred Ombui.
The minister challenged those pointing fingers at Mr Kimunya to clear their names over involvement in corruption deals in the past.
He was concerned that the war on corruption had been personalised and was taking a tribal dimension.
Dr Gesami and Mr Ombui said leaders must be held accountable to the people for grand corruption to be eliminated.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 The Nation. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
