Kenyan ministers suspended over corruption claims
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has suspended four cabinet ministers and 12 other high-ranking officials after they were implicated in corrupt deals.
A fifth minister stepped aside earlier.
The officials were mentioned in a report handed to parliament by the president this week.
Some had defied the president’s order to step aside and allow investigations into corrupt dealings in ministries that include transport, energy, labour and agriculture.
Those suspended were named earlier this week in a report by the country’s Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission.
President Kenyatta has given the commission 60 days to investigate the allegations levelled against the officials.
State House spokesperson Manoah Esipisu said the principal secretaries and other State officers named in the EACC list have also been asked to step aside.
Mr Esipisu said the President has instructed the board of parastatals whose heads appear in the dossier to appoint other chief executives to act pending the investigations.
The suspended cabinet secretaries are Felix Kosgey (Agriculture), Davis Chirchir (Energy), Michael Kamau (Transport) and Kazungu Kambi (Labour).
The president appointed Industrialisation CS Adan Mohammed to take over the Agriculture docket while Henry Rotich of National Treasury will be in charge of Energy.
Mr Kambi’s Labour ministry will be headed by Raychelle Omamo of Defence while Health CS James Macharia will be in charge of Eng Kamau’s Transport docket.
The BBC’s Emmanuel Igunza in Nairobi says Kenya has long grappled with sleaze in government, blamed for the loss of millions of dollars each year. BBC/Daily Nation
