Garissa County residents have organized a demonstration on Tuesday to defend the County Governor Nathif Jama who has been accused of corruption by Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC). The residents led by elders have accused the EACC of selective justice alleging that other governors who have leased ambulance services are walking scot free.
Jama who is expected to be arraigned in court this Thursday is accused of irregular leasing of Emergency Plus ambulances. Emergency Plus is a company fully owned by Kenya Red Cross. The governor was last week cleared by EACC which recommended various criminal charges against him including abuse of office and failure to comply to procurement regulations.
The Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko has directed that he be charged in a court of law which has not been taken well by some Garissa county residents. They claim that the whole process is a political witch-hunt. "Leasing of ambulances was done in good faith. Garissa is more than 54,000 square kilometres but today I can proudly say that nobody would die in the far corners of the county because we have ambulances. We will not accept this and we will stand in solidarity with our governor", Abdi Hassan, the Chair of the elders said in Garissa Town yesterday where he announced the planned demo.