DP Ruto: There will be no friends in fight against corruption

Deputy President William Ruto on Wednesday said the fight against theft of public resources will be thorough and relentless as the government seeks to elevate Kenya into an upper middle-income country.

DP Ruto noted that every arm of the Government has to weigh in on the assault against corruption, adding that “every citizen must play their part” if the country is to develop.

“The fight against organised crime, mismanagement, theft and corruption is now running full steam and there are no friends, no relatives and no political sides,” said Mr Ruto.

The deputy president spoke in Nairobi during a forum with Cabinet Secretaries, Governors and development partners.

The meeting, which sought to understand the priority areas of the Big Four agenda, saw development partners pledge to align their strategies to the grand development agenda.

As part of the fight against corruption, the Deputy President noted that his office would be providing leadership on Open Government Partnership to foster transparency, accountability and promote citizen participation.

Besides anti-graft efforts, Mr. Ruto said taming of wastage and abuse of public resources was necessary for Kenya to thrive.

“The transformation of Kenya is necessary, urgent and inevitable,” said the DP.

He stated that several reforms were ongoing to rebuild the country economically, citing the creation of a conducive business environment, infrastructure expansion and investment in quality and accessible social services.

Cabinet Secretaries who attended the event included Henry Rotich (Treasury), James Macharia (Transport), Sicily Kariuki (Health), Monica Juma (Foreign Affairs), Mwangi Kiunjuri (Agriculture) and Eugene Wamalwa (Devolution).

Top envoys in the meeting included the Head of the EU Delegation in Kenya Stefano-Antonio Dejak, US Ambassador to Kenya Bob Godec, Swedish Ambassador to Kenya Anna Jardfelt, UN Resident Co-ordinator and United Nations Development Programme Resident Representative Siddharth Chatterjee,  UNDP Country Director Amanda Serumaga, Food and Agricultural Organisation Representative in Kenya Gabriel Rugalema, among others.