Kenyan MPs dismiss lifestyle audit as ‘witch hunt’

JOHANNESBURG – Two Kenyan lawmakers from the ruling Jubilee Party have dismissed a presidential directive for a lifestyle audit of all public servants, describing it as a political witch hunt targeting one community, the Daily Nation reported on Tuesday.

Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei and Belgut MP Nelson Koech warned that the war on corruption was doomed to fail because it had been personalised and the legal and policy frameworks did not guarantee its success.

While expressing support for the war against graft after auditor-general Edward Ouko last week warned that high-levels of corruption across the government threatened its integrity and basic functioning, the two MPs expressed misgivings about a witch hunt to settle political scores.

 “What we are witnessing in the name of fighting corruption is only good for the public gallery. It’s a selective effort aimed at ensuring that the real criminals go scot free. Nothing substantive will come out of it,” Cherargei said on Monday.

Koech likened the latest efforts by President Uhuru Kenyatta to “mob justice”, arguing that it was a knee jerk reaction intended to protect criminal elements from prosecution.

– African News Agency (ANA)