Maraga slams Ruto’s ‘hollow political performance’ on graft » Capital News

NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 20 — Former Chief Justice David Maraga has dismissed President William Ruto’s newly launched anti-corruption campaign as hypocritical, accusing the Head of State of bribing Members of Parliament for political gain while publicly castigating them for graft.

In a statement issued by the David Maraga Presidential Campaign Secretariat, the former CJ alleged that Ruto had “no moral authority” to lecture Parliament on corruption, claiming the President has orchestrated some of the most extensive bribery schemes in Kenya’s political history.

“When President William Ruto stood before the country and accused Members of Parliament of demanding money from governors, ministers, and other state officers appearing before them, he cracked open a door that those in power usually keep firmly shut,” Maraga said.

“But if the President can publicly point fingers at Parliament, then he must also open himself to the same scrutiny.”

Maraga accused Ruto of bribing MPs during the controversial impeachment of his former deputy, Rigathi Gachagua, describing it as “the most diabolical bribing of MPs in Kenya’s history.”

“Kenya’s President bribes Parliament when he needs to use them as a pitchfork for his dark maneuvers, then insults and dismisses these same MPs when he has no use for them,” Maraga declared.

He further questioned the source of billions of shillings allegedly funneled by Ruto and his allies into schools, churches, and markets under the guise of “empowerment funds.”

“Nowhere in the national budget is there a clear line item allocating such billions for discretionary political giveaways,” he noted.

“What about the Sh44.8 billion reportedly stolen from the eCitizen platform? Or the millions wired to ghost schools? Or the billions swallowed in so-called renovations of government offices and State House facilities?”

According to Maraga, these were not “mere accounting errors” but large-scale thefts sustaining a vast political patronage network while millions of Kenyans remain in poverty.

The former CJ unveiled a four-point plan he said Ruto must embrace to regain credibility in the war on graft.

He urged the President to publicly account for empowerment funds, order investigations into the eCitizen scandal, ghost schools, and suspicious state renovations; revive high-profile corruption cases dropped during the Uhuru Kenyatta era; and suspend implicated officials until cleared.

He also demanded that the anti-graft crusade extend beyond Parliament to the Executive, Judiciary, and parastatals.

Maraga suggested that Kenya’s leadership crisis may ultimately require a peaceful handover of power, likening the moment to President Daniel arap Moi’s 2002 exit.

“This country does not need to wait for a general election to bring in new hope. It is time for President Ruto to hand over the leadership baton peacefully to an incoming leadership that will reset the nation back to the ideals of the Constitution,” he said.

His statement came just a day after Ruto unveiled an 11-member Multi-Agency Team on War Against Corruption (MAT) to spearhead a “whole-of-government” approach to fighting graft.

The MAT, chaired by the Executive Office of the President and supported by the Office of the Attorney General, includes the National Intelligence Service (NIS), Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP), Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), and several financial oversight agencies.

On Monday, Ruto vowed to crack down on lawmakers accused of turning parliamentary committees into “extortion rackets,” warning that both bribe-takers and bribe-givers would face arrest.

ODM leader Raila Odinga, who stood alongside him, echoed the concern, saying that lobbying had degenerated into “outright extortion” in Parliament, undermining governance and the business climate.

But Maraga insisted that unless scandals within the Executive itself are addressed, Ruto’s anti-graft campaign will remain “a hollow political performance.”

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