Ruto CSs, PSs On EACC Radar Over Sudden Change In Lifestyle
This is a move that forms part of the anti-corruption watchdog's plan to hold political figures constantly in the spotlight accountable for any signs of illicit enrichment during and after they leave office.
Marvin Chege 
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) is now monitoring the present Cabinet Secretaries (CS) and Principal Secretaries (PS) in President William Ruto's administration, particularly those whose lifestyles seemed to have abruptly changed after they took office.
This is a move that forms part of the anti-corruption watchdog's plan to hold political figures constantly in the spotlight accountable for any signs of illicit enrichment during their time in office.
EACC Chief Executive, Twalib Mbarak, while speaking in an interview with Citizen TV on Tuesday, January 2 revealed that anyone holding a key government position, including a CS, or heading a prominent organization, is by default a highly-exposed person of interest.
The commission raised concerns regarding some officials who radically upgraded their lifestyles from modest possessions to extravagant items amidst a struggling economy at the moment.
President William Ruto chairing a cabinet meeting at State House on Monday, November 27, 2023. /PCS
“When you are a PS, a CS or when you are heading a very big organization, you are under our radar. You belong to those we call highly exposed political persons.
"You find someone wearing a Ksh10 million watch and before that he/she had nothing to wear, that person had a Casio. Those are now red flags that the person is doing something,” he said.
Mbarak thus cautioned Cabinet Secretaries, affirming that their actions would not go unnoticed by the EACC in the war against corruption, to restore dignity to members of the public.
“Fighting corruption is like guerrilla warfare, you are not fighting a conventional warfare whereby the enemy is in uniform and you can tell that that is the enemy,” he added.
“So if today you are a minister and you believe you can operate on impunity, do it, but one day the EACC will catch up with you. Don’t think you are there at the top and you can operate on impunity, this country is governed by laws.”
In one such scenario, former Tourism CS Najib Balala was arrested by the EACC in December 2023 and arraigned at the Malindi Law Courts over the construction of Utalii College in Kilifi County valued at Ksh8.5 billion.
Malindi Chief Magistrate James Mwaniki on Friday, December 22 released Balala on a Ksh1 million cash bail or an alternative Ksh5 million, bail terms which were unopposed by the prosecution.
Balala denied corruption charges relating to the illegal payment of Ksh8.5 billion for setting up a satellite Utalii College in the coastal region.
He, alongside former Permanent Secretary Leah Gwiyo, was alleged to have decided to engage private consultants against a Cabinet decision, resulting in the irregular payment for consultancy services for the design, documentation, supervision and contract management of the proposed Ronald Ngala Utalii College.
Mbarak gave new details regarding the case, saying investigations were launched in the scandal's second phase which could see Balala grilled further to shed light on the misappropriation of funds.
During the first phase where a file was already forwarded to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP), the Commission probed the former CS's involvement in consultancy services, with Mbarak alleging that this phase saw architectural teams contracted for the provision of the designs for the construction of the college.
The second phase centres around the contract awarded for the construction of the project, which has since stalled. This will likely bring about new charges that will be forwarded to the ODPP in due course.
“The amount of money the college was allocated was about Ksh2 billion but ended up being about Ksh8 billion. Right now if you go to that sight, it is a very sad story. You have a very big college under construction but it is stuck,” Mbarak stated.
“This case has got two phases, case one is about the consultancy and there is the construction part of it which we are yet to finish the file, and there will be a second case coming on the same matter and it will hit on the same people. This is one of the sad stories of this country where a big grand project has stalled because of corruption.”
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