Homa Bay Women Representative Gladys Wanga has criticised government over threats to arrest Cord leader Raila Odinga over the Eurobond money wastage allegations.
Speaking to the press in Kisumu town, Wanga asked EACC to drop the threat for the betterment of the nation. Wanga said EACC as currently constituted cannot legitimately probe the controversial Eurobond.
She said Raila should be protected as a whistle blower instead of being compelled to record a statement over the alleged loss of Sh140 billion Eurobond fund. Wanga said Kenya cannot afford to be taken back to dark Kanu days where people were not allowed to question the government. She said the opposition is simply playing their oversight role in the fight against corruption and therefore should not be intimidated.
“We will not allow some people in the government to criminalise the opposition for carrying out their oversight mandate,” Wanga said.
She added that Cord will not allow Raila to be intimidated by people who lack capacity to carry out any investigation. Wanga said Raila is an institution with more than six million supporters hence should not be intimidated for questioning the loss of monies. She told President Uhuru Kenyatta to come out and fight rampant corruption in his government instead of focusing on Raila.
“President Uhuru should stop diverting attention from Eurobond saga by issuing summons or arrest threats to a whistle-blower," Wanga said.
She said Treasury CS Henry Rotich and his PS Kamau Thugge should explain to Kenyans how the entire Eurobond monies were handled. Wanga told the government to exercise tolerance and fair criticism in handling corruption matters by protecting whistle-blowers. She faulted Deputy President William Ruto over his remarks that the opposition criticism is only aimed at scaring away investors.
Wanga termed the statement by Ruto as irresponsible and regrettable.
"Ruto should not brand the opposition as saboteurs because they are seeking the truth on behalf of Kenyans,” she said.
Wanga said that the country’s economy is suffering at the expense of those stealing public resources. She warned that attempt to arrest Raila will be resisted at all cost should officers take the Cord leader into custody.
Raila has accused the National Treasury of cooking their books of account to hide the missing Sh 140 billion. He said Cord’s repeated request to Treasury with regard to the missing monies is in good faith, but which has been met by contradictory statements from officials and accounts that still do not add up. He insists that the accounts still do not balance despite all the apparently feverish massaging by civil servants.
This follows a summons by the EACC for the Cord leader to report to the Commission's offices on Monday failure to which he will be liable for prosecution.
On Thursday, two CID officers and two forensic investigators from the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) went to Raila’s Capitol Hill office to serve him with summons.
Raila has claimed for weeks that the government lost Sh140 billion of the Eurobond’s proceeds, prompting an investigations order by Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko.