Kenyan governor arrested for ‘corruption’

Sospeter Ojaamong, governor of Busia in Kenya, has been arrested for alleged corruption.

An official at the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), an anti-graft organisation, disclosed this to reporters on Wednesday.

Noordin Haji, Kenya’s top prosecutor, ordered that Ojaamong face charges including abuse of office and conspiracy to steal public funds.

Haji said evidence presented by the national anti-corruption agency was enough to prosecute Ojaamong.

He said the governor and nine other officials allegedly stole millions of Kenyan shillings in public funds.

Ojaamong and his accomplices are to be charged with conspiracy to commit economic crime, engaging in a project without proper planning, abuse of office, and willful failure to comply with the law relating to management of funds.

As with some other scandals involving alleged corruption by government officials, the case is based on evidence of suspicious procurement practices for a public works project that was never completed.

The Kenyan government under President Uhuru Kenyatta, who was re-elected in 2017, has renewed his fight against corruption.

Kenyan media has reported on more than a dozen corruption scandals involving state agencies and officials since Kenyatta took power, but there has been no conviction of high profile figures, according to a Reuters review of the cases.