President declares corruption threat to national security

Kenya President, Uhuru Kenyatta Monday came out fighting against wide criticism that he had lost grip on the fight against corruption, declaring it a threat to national security.

He has also nominated a new team to head the country’s embattled anti-corruption body. Kenyatta put forward Philip Kinusu, along with those of another four proposed members of the state-owned Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, to the national assembly for consideration.

“The bribe accepted by an official can lead to successful terrorist attacks that kill Kenyans. It can let a criminal off the hook for them to return to crime and harming Kenyans. Terrorism itself is a national security threat,” he said in a televised address.

“The damage to our economy puts millions of lives at peril and undermines our very aspirations as a nation. I am therefore declaring with immediate effect corruption as a national security threat.”  

He also spelled out a raft of measures that he hopes will rein in corruption in east Africa’s largest economy, including lifestyle audits of its employees and a string of requirements for firms doing business with the government.

The country will also move to seize assets from public officers found guilty of corruption while whistleblowers would also be protected, he said.

“We will make it expensive for anyone stealing from Kenyans,” he said, three days after receiving recommendations from a task force on how to tackle the vice. “We will win this fight”.

“I have directed the immediate implementation the recommendations made particularly prioritising those that will ensure we fulfil our goal of building strong cases, reclaiming assets and achieving convictions.”

The country’s chief justice said a special court would be set up to try cases of corruption, as the senate speaker termed the report’s recommendations “a turning point for our republic”.