Former Devolution Cabinet secretary Anne Waiguru now wants police protection to forestall what she refers to as “possible attacks” on her by unnamed political adversaries.
She has written to the Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet asking to be issued with appropriate security detail, citing her claims regarding the National Youth Service (NYS) financial scandal, in which she had dropped names of senior politicians.
The former CS, who has since declared her interest in the Nairobi gubernatorial seat, said she feels at risk of being physically harmed by persons she described as “powerful” and asks to be provided with appropriate security arrangements.
Waiguru sought police protection as a section of MPs from Central Kenya told two Jubilee politicians to cease dragging the coalition into their woes after being implicated in corruption.
Speaking separately over the weekend, MPs drawn from Nyeri and Kirinyaga counties asked National Assembly Leader of Majority Aden Duale and Senate Deputy Leader of Majority Kipchumba Murkomen to “carry their own cross” and not to taint President Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration.
Mary Wambui (Othaya), Njogu Barua (Gichugu) Kanini Kega (Kieni) and Kabando wa Kabando (Mukurwe-ini) said the two should solemnly respond to the accusations levelled against them by Waiguru over the NYS scandal.
Speaking in her constituency while issuing more than Sh17 million bursary disbursements to 1,628 pupils, Wambui said there is no split among Jubilee leaders over the allegations faced by Duale and Murkomen.
She said the relevant constitutional bodies should be allowed to investigate corruption allegations levelled against any leader and take necessary action. In a recent sworn affidavit, Waiguru detailed how senior politicians and associates of politicians were allegedly involved with the perpetrators of the NYS theft.
“Upon the issuance of her affidavit, I received both veiled threats including by Leader of Majority, Aden Duale in which he promised to take a sabbatical leave from political campaigns ‘to go after Anne Waiguru’. Other senior politicians have also accused me of breaking the Jubilee coalition,” she said in the letter to the IG.
Knowing the country’s political climate and the influence politicians command, Waiguru stated she is naturally fearful for her life. Waiguru further stated she was worried that there might be attempts to interfere with investigations to ensure there are trumped up charges against her.
“Whilst I trust the investigative and prosecutorial institutions to be guided by the law, I feel, unless I am issued with appropriate security arrangements I stand a risk of being physically harmed.
I am, therefore, requesting your office to issue me with appropriate security to forestall any attacks on me,” she wrote.
She complained that there has been an orchestrated campaign to link her with a spate of theft and corruption at the Devolution ministry and some of its departments, more particularly the NYS.
She said in the letter that extensive investigations saw her name cleared by the Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission (EACC) and a letter to this effect issued.
“Soon thereafter, a fraudulent and false affidavit was sworn by one of the persons charged with the theft of NYS monies making wild and unsubstantiated allegations. I am convinced that this was the work of the masterminds of the theft at NYS,” Waiguru said . Businesswoman Josephine Kabura, in a sworn affidavit, implicated Waiguru in the loss of Sh791 million of NYS monies. Kabura also accused the Director of the Banking Fraud Department Joseph Mugwanja of covering up the scandal.
She had claimed in the affidavit that she met Waiguru in her Runda home, something the former CS later termed a lie, clarifying that she was living in Kitsuru at the time in question.
But in a rejoinder, Waiguru accused Kabura of lying under oath and dismissed the allegations as a mere campaign by cartels to block her return to the government after she declared her intention to contest for Nairobi governor’s post.
But after Waiguru’s affidavit, Duale vehemently denied the allegations and accused her of dragging people’s names into her troubles and introducing non-existent petty politics as he challenged her to table evidence.
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