Kenyan politicians urge sober debate on graft

Former Kabete MP and a renowned lawyer Paul Muite now says the mounting pressure for Higher Education minister William Ruto to step aside is not a constitutional requirement but an ethical issue.

Muite claims that the new constitution only requires a member of parliament to quit if he is convicted and sentenced to a jail term of more than six months.

He says the ball is now in the court of the president and the prime minister to decide on the fate of the Minister. Muite's remarks come a day after the Minister who is facing trial in a Sh96 million fraud case vowed not to resign.

Ruto who maintained his innocence said the case was politically motivated and wondered why it had been dragging in court for over seven years.

Elsewhere, Higher Education Assistant Minister Asman Kamama has called for a sober debate on corruption allegations against government officials.

The minister said it was unfair for a cross section of politicians to demonize their colleagues who have been mentioned in corruption cases without giving them a chance to defend themselves.

Kamama said the move was a ploy by some politicians to dent the image of their colleagues ahead of the 2012 general elections.

Speaking during the commissioning of the Economic Stimulus Programme (ESP) at Kamama High School in Manyatta Constituency, the legislator cautioned politicians against using the debate to score political goals.

"Let us not lynch or commit mob justice against anybody who has not been proven guilty by the courts of law," said the assistant minister.

Echoing the same sentiments, former Mwatate MP Major (Rtd) Marsden Madoka hit out at politicians who were fond of condemning colleagues implicated in corruption saying that the principal of innocent until proven guilty must be observed at all times.

"It's imperative that the law be allowed to take its course in these cases up to their conclusion and avoid the tendency of subjecting suspects to mob justice," said Madoka who is the second national Kanu vice-chairman.

Ruto and four other persons and companies associated with them are accused of fraud in a land deal involving the Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC).

The company is alleged to have lost some Sh272 million in the land deal at Ngong Forest.

Section 62 of the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act says that any public officer who is charged with corruption or economic crime shall be suspended at half pay, with effect from the date of the charge.