We Will Find ‘Chicken Eaters’, EACC Boss

Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission (EACC) boss Mumo Matemu said that they are still probing the scandal that has thrown the Independent Electoral and Boundaries commission (IEBC) and the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) into disrepute.

Matemu said that the anti-graft agency is currently focused on gathering evidence after summoning Energy Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir, IEBC boss Issack Hassan and former IEBC Chief Executive James Oswago among others linked to the scandal that involves officials of a UK printing firm and former commissioners in the defunct Interim Independent Electoral Commission (IIEC).

Matemu was speaking during a joint workshop of state agencies aimed at seeking ways of sealing border point corruption.

Speaking in the same function, head of civil service Joseph Kinyua called for digitization of government services to seal corruption loopholes. He urged EACC to be firm in the war against graft.

JAIL SENTENCE

Last week, IEBC Chair Issack Hassan and Energy CS Davis Chirchir, who served as commissioners in the defunct IIEC, were grilled by EACC detectives where they maintained their innocence.

Former KNEC boss Paul Wasanga also denied claims of receiving a bribe to award printing tenders to the UK company, Smith & Ouzman.

Smith & Ouzman’s directors Nicholas Charles Smith, 43, and Christopher John Smith, 71, were found guilty for bribing officials of the IIEC and the KNEC boss to get the printing contracts.

Christopher Smith was sentenced to an 18-month suspended term for his role in the scandal while John Smith was sentenced to three years in jail by the Southwark Crown Court.

EACC investigators will also be pressing Mr. Trevy Oyombra to disclose how much each of the officials mentioned received in bribes, if at all they received.

The commission is said to be scrutinising travel itineraries of the election officials for the period in question following revelations by the UK Serious Fraud Office that Smith & Ouzman paid their travel and accommodation expenses while they were in London.

Energy Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir on Friday said he would resign if charged with receiving bribes from the British firm.

By Tom Omulo.