How Fight Against Corruption will succeed by shaming state officials – Orengo

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Siaya Senator James Orengo and Murkomen are setting good examples for other leaders to emulate. James Orengo asked Kenyans not to be scared of naming the corrupt as doing so was one of the strategies of fighting corruption. Murkomen also appealed to politicians to leave independent institutions like the EACC, ODPP and the Judiciary to do their work without direction or instructions. Orengo on Monday cautioned that the fight against corruption will not be won by just prosecuting suspects. The war will also be won by naming names, the Senate Minority leader said.

The legislator said the President had set a good example when his brother was named in connection with the sugar import scam and he told him to carry his own cross if was culpable. “So I would urge Kenyan leaders, including myself, that when your name is called, do not be afraid because that is part and parcel of the process of the fight against corruption,” Orengo told the delegates.

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He was addressing the Sixth Annual Devolution Conference at Kirinyaga University, Kirinyaga county. The senator said some of the countries that have succeeded in the anti-graft war took that direction. He said leaders get worried when their names are called. “Even if they are summoned to go and make statements, people get worried. President Donald Trump is now being investigated by the House of Representatives in the United States.”  Orengo cited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as another leader facing charges. A better Kenya is one in which even a President, a Deputy President or a senior government official is investigated and charged, he said. This way, Kenyans will know that however powerful one is, once they engage in corruption they are not above the law.

The fight will only succeed if Kenyans are assured that nobody is above the law under the Constitution. Elgeyo Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen, however, cautioned that the fight must be based on the law and evidence. Murkomen said the danger will arise if independent institutions wait for political goodwill and direction or allow politics to take centre stage in investigations and prosecution.

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If the Judiciary will be waiting for politicians to act independently and decisively on corruption, then the country is doomed, he warned. “This is because politicians come and go after every five years and if one of them has any influence in independent institutions, then it means the other one who will be coming will also have a different influence on the independent institutions,” he said.

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