Republic of Kenya

NATIONAL GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN

PRESS RELEASE
3rd, November 2016
1. GOVERNMENT WAR ON CORRUPTION
We all recall that in March 26 2015, during the state of the nation
address, H.E Uhuru Kenyatta read out names of several senior
government officials including Cabinet Secretaries who had been
associated with corruption and asked them to step aside from
public office to pave way for investigations.
With this action, the president signaled a departure from the past
governments where everybody knew corruption was going on but
the government of the day adopted an attitude of see no evil,
hear no evil, talk no evil. So far, five Cabinet Secretaries and
several and heads of government entities have been dropped on
corruption related issues.
By allowing his Cabinet Secretaries to be investigated and
prosecuted, the President gave a clear signal to the agencies
charged with the statutory responsibility of investigating and
prosecuting that they have a free hand to investigate anybody
and everybody and charge them in a court of law.
On the 18th of October this year, the President once again
hosted a summit in State House Nairobi for a public review of our
progress in the war against corruption. The summit was also
intended to give the heads of these agencies a public opportunity
to give an account of their own performance in this critical area at
this stage in our development.

The President joined other Kenyans to publicly express his

disappointment with their performance, especially given the fact
that the government had provided all the necessary resources to
these agencies. Whereas the President avoided the temptation of
being vindictive his statement should to all intents and purposes
serve as a warning that Kenyans have lost patience with the pace
and the manner individuals in these institutions take corruption
cases. It was the first time in our History that corruption was
publicly discussed in Statehouse.
These two unprecedented gestures are clear evidence that this
government has chosen to lead the war against corruption from
the front.
Much to the chagrin, of those opposed to the Jubilee
Administration, wananchi and diplomats who were present at
Statehouse and those who watched it live on TV hailed this as
another milestone in the war against corruption. Most visible
among these are who have occupied powerful positions in
previous governments and
totally failed Kenyans by doing
nothing or even actively participating in corruption.
In contrast with this government, which has registered an
impressive development record, these politicians also have no
development record even within their own constituencies. They
have such little public credibility that most of them cannot even
to run for Governor in their own counties. Notwithstanding their
poor public record, they still hope to attain public offices through
deception.
By branding this government the most corrupt they hope that
by branding jubilee government the most corrupt, voters will
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forget that in their days in government, they did nothing and

actually benefitted immensely from corruption. Unfortunately a
significant part of the media has either deliberately or unwittingly
joined this campaign to discredit the government efforts.
Today we wish to inform Kenyans that this campaign has not
reduced the government resolve to fighting corruption.

2. MINISTRY OF HEALTH INTERIM INTERNAL AUDIT REPORT

ON END OF YEAR PROCUREMENT AND PAYMENTS FOR
THE YEAR 2015/16 .
Let us briefly revisit the stolen interim audit report from the
Ministry of Health by asking ourselves: what actually happened at
the Ministry of Health?
From the start of his term, H.E. the President made it clear that
Cabinet Secretaries are responsible for the war against corruption
in their own ministries. This means that they should be the ones
to institute measures that detect corruption, identify the
perpetrators, assemble critical evidence and take necessary
action to protect public resources and when need be to initiate
prosecution.
It is from this background that the Cabinet
Secretary in the Ministry of Health instituted and the now
infamous interim audit report came to be.
Briefly, when an interim audit report for any organization is
received, the CEO requires the line managers to explain all the
queries raised. Sometimes, all that is required is proper
documentation. Whichever the case it is only after all the queries
raised are answered/inquire into, that the CEO is able to decide
whether there is any impropriety or not.
In this particular case, the interim report was not allowed to go
the full cycle. Instead it was maliciously stolen from the Ministry
and handed over to NMG where it has since been misrepresented
as a forensic audit and subsequently been declared a scam. This
in itself is the height of professional corruption. The malice and
corruption explains the fact that even a simple computation of the
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figures queried totals to about 3.1 billion and not 5.3 billion as
widely publicized.
What the government wishes the public to know is that like
severally emphasized by the Ministry of Health, nothing
conclusive can be said until the queries therein are inquired into
and the entire audit process is completed. To understand this
situation, you may wish to note that the interim report also
queried a payment of Kshs.2.3 Million made to NMG for
services rendered.
Having made that clarification we wish to address ourselves to
few unintended consequences of this misinformation.
Following this report, suppliers to the Ministry of Health in
particular and to the government in general have expressed
serious concerns on [possibility that they might not be paid in a
situation where after they have supplied, someone springs up
and declares their clean business corrupt. We wish to assure all
suppliers that the government of Kenya will honor their legally
entered contracts for supply of goods or other service without
fail.
The other issue is the central government support to the counties
within the auspices of the District Health Services- Curative and
Rehabilitative Health services. Even a casual reading of the report
will show you some of the payments queried were to Bungoma
Lamu and Nanyuki totaling 400 million shillings.
The government wishes to assure the counties and wananchi that
this budgetary support will continue to underwrite universal
healthcare access to all.
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Another sensitive item is the funds provided to procure

nutritional support for persons living with HIV/AIDS. It is very
well for politicians who have amassed wealth over the years and
other persons with a regular income to take nutritional support
lightly. However for majority of Kenyans living with this
condition, nutritional support is a matter of life and death. The
government therefore wishes to assure them that this support
will continue politics notwithstanding.
The mobile clinics for the urban informal settlements and other
needy areas will also continue as scheduled. The Ministry is
actually very hopeful that the clinics will be operational by early
next year.
Finally, the government wishes to assure our local and
international partners who have provided invaluable support in
health services sector and all the stakeholders that this audit will
be brought to its logical conclusion and if any person will be
found culpable they will face the full force of the law without
exception. Similarly, in the event that the audit discloses loss of
any public funds, such funds will be recovered and restituted to
the intended purpose.

Kiraithe E.K. MBS,

Government Spokesman.