Gov. Anne Waiguru Issues Statement on Raids by EACC

Press Statement From @AnneWaiguru

PRESS STATEMENT BY H.E. GOVERNOR ANNE WAIGURU ON RAIDS BY EACC
AUGUST 20, 2020
Let me start by being very clear.

1. I wholeheartedly support investigations on corruption on any individual, me included. However, such investigations must never be about sideshows, politicking and image-shaming.
2. This morning the EACC raided my official residence, my private home and my office in Kutus. From the statement we have seen from EACC these raids were to search for documents in support of an investigation into travel imprests for official trips on behalf of the County. Anyone who understands government processes will know that establishing whether or not an imprest for travel was used is very basic. There are passports, tickets, imprest warrants, ifmis print outs and receipts for monies refunded to the imprest giver.
3. All these documents evidencing travel or refunds where no travel took place have been presented to the EACC. They include; • Original passports and clear copies of the same showing exit, movement and Entry into the country. • Imprest application documents showing amounts applied for. • IFMIS print outs showing exactly what amounts were received. • Tickets for all trips undertaken. • Cancellation letters where applicable. • Deposit slips for all funds reimbursed where trips were cancelled. • Our personal bank statements • Surrender documents to finance
   Most of these documents were also given to the Senate hearings on my impeachment in the full glare of live TV coverage.
4. There is therefore nothing you can look for in someone’s house to evidence imprest management. It is therefore a shock to be woken up by a battery of fully armed officers raiding my house to “look for evidence on imprests”. Indeed, and EACC can confirm, the multi-person search, complete with police toting machine guns elicited only one document from my official residence and from from my house in Nairobi – My cheque book. Relevant details of which has been availed to EACC before. Surely, you did not need a battery of machine gun carrying policemen, raiding my home in darkness to get my cheque book! This could have been easily availed with a simple request.
5. It is instructive to note that until my case, the surrender of imprests has never been the subject of criminal corruption investigations. A perusal of successive Auditor-General reports shows that billions of shillings remain unsurrendered by public officers. There is no investigation or raid of houses against such officers. Most are quietly being surcharged. This is not only the normal practice but also as provided in law. Until now.
6. I am also surmised that EACC now claims the investigation is of 22M. I wonder where they got this new figure from considering in the impeachment allegations and even their own interrogation of the same the amount was of 10M. Why do they see the need to shore up numbers?
7. The inescapable conclusion is that this is not about investigating travel imprests but a wider scheme to shape the 2022 succession politics of Mt Kenya, and, to detract from critical allegations against a multitude of persons on various multi-million corruption allegations. This is a decoy. It is intended to detract people who have recently been asking legitimate questions about how massive public monies have been spent. I have been here before. I have been used as a decoy before. The plot failed then and it will fail now. Wild allegations are thrown around only to come empty of even the basic proof.
8. It is unjust to say the least to use other people as a decoy to cover other serious misdeeds in the country. We hope that in the next few days we shall see EACC officers having the same energy to find out about the billions that are alleged to have been lost in various scandals as they have in the case of my travel imprests. We look forward to seeing homes and offices raided. If this is not done, as happened in 2015, we will reconfirm my belief that this
   was no more than a detraction. Decoy building with ulterior motives.
9. Finally, Kenyans are not easily fooled, they can see right through this charade. They know who is behind it and they know why. Its about 2022 politics, period!

My only comfort has always been – There is a God in heaven.
Anne Walguru, E.G.H., O.G.W.