Rotich’s life is hanging on a thread after he appeared for the second day at the DCI headquarters to answer questions relating to the the construction of the Elgeyo-Marakwet dams.
It is believed that CS Rotich singularly paid out billions of shillings in the said dams scandals, all against government financial procedures and regulations without reference to and without the approval of the PS, the Cabinet & the President.
A mystery Kenyans want DCI to solve on what capacity he acted on.
Kenyans are also demanding the DCI to establish how he approved payments of more than Sh20 billion to a broke Italian firm to put two dams in Elgeyo Marakwet, where millions has been paid out to companies for unrelated goods and services like wine and towels.
It can’t be true that CS Rotich singularly paid out all these billions of shillings in the said dams scandals, all against government financial procedures en regulations without reference to & without the approval of the PS, the Cabinet & the President. We demand full disclosure! pic.twitter.com/xQfNqPKr7L— Boni Khalwale (@KBonimtetezi) March 6, 2019
Sources told the Nation that Mr Rotich could be on his way out of the National Treasury and a leading Kenyan diplomat might replace him.
Water Cabinet Secretary Simeon Chelugui is also expected to be grilled on the scandal later this week, according to Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti.
It was not clear last evening whether Mr Rotich would be charged, although he looked increasingly isolated from his Cabinet colleagues and the centre of Executive power he has enjoyed since appointment.
Unlike the previous interrogation, which was done in the comfort of his Nairobi home, Mr Rotich spent the entire day yesterday at the DCI headquarters on Kiambu Road. He was released at 7.45pm and asked to report back at 6am today.
“We have not yet finished the interrogation,” Mr Kinoti told the Nation last evening. “If we don’t finish with him tonight, we shall ask him to appear tomorrow (today).”
Investigations into the scandal surrounding the Arror and Kimwerer multipurpose dams have caught the attention of the nation because of the enormity of the money involved.
While the DCI says Sh21 billion could have been lost in the scandal, Mr Rotich, in a newspaper advertisement last Sunday, put the figure at about Sh20 billion.
What is clear, however, is that 14 months after money changed hands, the earth movers have not rolled over the thickets of Arror or Kimwarer. Mr Rotich, Mr Kinoti said, was asked to explain this mystery yesterday.
“We have asked him to tell us which bank is holding the performance bond, and why we have not cashed the same as per the contract,” Mr Kinoti said.
“Also, we wanted him to shed light on what will happen to taxpayers’ money already paid to the contractor in case the project collapses.”
Last week, Deputy President William Ruto dismissed Mr Kinoti’s “Sh21 billion investigation”, saying the “only figure in contention was Sh7 billion”.
And then, as if on cue, leading politicians from the Rift Valley took on the DCI boss, charging that he is playing politics rather than investigating corruption.