Deputy President William Ruto has hit out at opposition leader Raila Odinga, accusing him of covering up for those behind the alleged theft at Kemsa.
Ruto on Tuesday said the “heist at Kemsa is a deplorable manifestation of the worst public vice that has seen the hypocritical “former” Opposition characteristically change the tune”.
Ruto said the current “stammering, staggering and flip-flopping by Raila is a confirmation of thieves caught red-handed stealing from the sick, endangering the lives of the front line workers and robbing the dying”.
“It is clear that you, the owners and operators of the Corruption Laundromat are working overtime in your effort to “sanitise” the Covid Billionaires,” he said.
He added, “The perpetrators of this heist are lucky they do not carry the tag ‘Ruto allies’, otherwise they would have taken political responsibility, stepped aside, written statements, companies investigated, individuals arrested and hauled to court”.
Ruto’s sentiments come after Raila in a statement called for a special audit of the country’s Covid-19 funds.
Raila said no one should be spared if found guilty of misappropriation of the funds.
“ODM wants a speedy professional audit that can lead to prosecution instead of a political shouting match that creates more confusion and end up clouding the issues and even covering up for the thieves,” he said.
“ODM will not defend anyone including members for relatives and friends of its officials found to have benefited from funds and other resources meant for fighting the pandemic.”
This was after allegations were levelled against the procurement and handling of Covid-19 protective gear by the Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (Kemsa).
Raila said ODM never did and never will tolerate corruption in all its manifestation, no matter who is involved.
“The government needs to conduct a thorough and urgent audit of all the funds that have been put at the disposal of ministries to fight the pandemic with a view to establishing the facts on usage of such resources,” Raila said.
“ODM has always advocated this systematic audit of the sale of grand regency hotel and attendant consequences. “
Raila said as matters stand, none of the people taking to the podium or social media to condemn theft of funds has any evidence.
