Kenya: Ex-Nairobi governor arrested for alleged graft

By Andrew Wasike

NAIROBI, Kenya (AA) - A former governor of Kenya’s largest county by population was arrested on Wednesday on corruption charges.

In a statement, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) confirmed that it had arrested Evans Kidero, who until last year was governor of Kenya’s capital county of Nairobi, saying: "He will be arraigned before an anti-corruption court alongside seven others on Thursday."

Nurdin Haji, Kenya's director of Public Prosecutions, said in a statement that there is ample evidence that links the eight suspects, including Kidero, to embezzlement and mismanagement of public funds while in office.

After reviewing the files, officials are “satisfied that the persons named are criminally culpable jointly and severally," he added.

Kenya has recently been hit by a spate of graft scandals, most involving top government officials. Demonstrators have taken to the streets to protest corruption in the East African country, sometimes getting into running battles with anti-riot police.

In one notorious example, this May when over $100 million vanished from the National Youth Fund without a trace, it emerged that some companies had been paid millions for doing nothing in return.

Experts have warned that if President Uhuru Kenyatta does not do more to fight corruption, then it will tar his legacy.

Kenyatta has responded by declaring a high-tech war on graft. In June he said government officials in procurement and accounting will face polygraph tests to determine their integrity and suitability.