Kenya’s finance minister Henry Rotich has pleaded not guilty to corruption charges, a day after his arrest over graft in a multi-million-dollar project to build two dams.
Rotich appeared in an anti-corruption court in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, on Tuesday along with his deputy, Kamau Thugge.
Prosecutors charged him with multiple counts, including abuse of office, conspiracy to defraud the public, failure to comply with guidelines relating to procurement and committing an offence of financial misconduct, among others.
Rotich denied the charges.
His arrest on Monday marked the first time a sitting Kenyan government minister has been held on corruption charges.
Kenya’s chief prosecutor, Noordin Haji, has also ordered the arrest and prosecution of 27 other officials for alleged wrongdoing in the dam project overseen by the Italian construction company CMC Di Ravenna.
The two dams were budgeted to cost $450m, but the treasury had increased this amount by $164m, Haji said on Monday, a move that needlessly ratcheted up Kenya’s ballooning public debt.
The two dams, Kimwarer and Arror, are planned for Kenya’s Elgeyo Marakwet county but have not yet been built. Yet, some $180m has already been paid out, said Haji.
Another $6m was paid out for the resettlement of people living in areas that would be affected by the project, but there was no evidence of land being acquired for this, he added.
A sub-editor of Kenya’s Standard Media Group, Fred Obura told Citi News Kenyans are excited over the arrest and are hoping that the Minister if found guilty, be made to refund the stolen money and jailed.
“It took the country by surprise… Kenyans are happy because corruption is big in this country and the president has come out very clearly on it. People are just waiting how the court processes will go and they are also very happy that somebody who is very senior in government is being arranged and facing charges.
They want a lot of action to be taken to ensure that these guys if found guilty are jailed and the money recovered and put to good use by the government.
By: Citi News
