Devolution Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa has slammed the weekend arrests of corruption suspects by Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission detectives, saying the anti-graft war should not be dramatised.
Speaking during the governors’ peer learning summit in Makueni County on Monday, Mr Wamalwa said that the approach is bound to fail.
“The war against corruption will not be won by drama. The drama we have seen recently like the Friday night arrests and the suspicious opinion polls are unnecessary and will not help the country in this agenda,” he said in Wote town.
Mr Wamalwa called for sober reflection on whether such an approach will help the country stamp out the scourge.
One of the high-ranking government official arrested over the weekend is National Land Commission Chairman Muhammad Swazuri. He was arrested on Saturday.
Others who have been arraigned over corruption-related charges are former Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero and Busia Governor Sospeter Ojaamong.
The Cabinet secretary also dismissed the recent opinion poll findings by Ipso Synovate that showed Deputy President William Ruto and Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru are the most corrupt of “all the current and past but still alive political leaders”.
Mr Wamalwa singled out corruption as the biggest threat to devolution, but faulted how it is being fought.
Nonetheless, he said he fully supports President Uhuru Kenyatta’s renewed war against the vice.
“I think we must work together and see how we can commit and start from the family level by instilling the best values in our children, and then scale it to our county governments,” he told governors at Kusyombuguo Lodge.
