KACC's amnesty to those who return stolen wealth

By ALLY JAMAH

Director of Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission PLO Lumumba has announced a plan to publish a list of influential individuals who will be requested to return " ill-gotten wealth" in exchange for an amnesty.

Lumumba said the list, to be released "in the next few weeks", will involve personalities mentioned adversely in connection with misappropriation of public wealth.

"We will be asking people to return wealth they have not worked for and we will negotiate a conditional amnesty for them," he said.

This appears to be a strategy to avoid the long, expensive and tedious route of investigating suspected corrupt individuals and taking them to court where trial may take years.

Conditional pardon

As to the exact nature of the conditional amnesty, the KACC boss said details would be worked out in consultation with the Justice Minister Mutula Kilonzo and Attorney General Amos Wako.

"If you have land or property that belongs to the Kenyan people, we urge you to take advantage of the amnesty and return it to escape prosecution," he said.

Naming personalities is expected to kick up a legal and political storm as the individuals on the list might accuse KACC of linking them with corruption and take legal action.

Lumumba warned that an era had arrived when people will be entitled to what they work for and not what they have grabbed from the public.

He defended the strategy of offering amnesty to people suspected of looting public wealth, saying the anti-graft fight was not just about arresting people and putting them in jail.

"What we want is for the return of the wealth that belongs to Kenyans. In fact, arrests and prosecutions should be an exception to be used as a last resort. Other means are quite effective," he said.

Lumumba also revealed that graft investigation against a number of ministers and other top officials in the Government was on the final stretch.

"We will soon be handing the files over to the AG for prosecutions to begin. Full details will be revealed in the coming weeks," he added.

Once prosecutions begin, the ministers will have to step aside until they are declared innocent by the courts, meaning more heads in the cabinet will soon roll. Lumumba was speaking yesterday during a breakfast meeting with members of the Rotary Club and leaders from the corporate world.

He also revealed that KACC was renewing a programme of using religious leaders to help in the fight against graft, that was began by former commission director Aaron Ringera.