Cord leader Raila Odinga has criticized president Uhuru over his remarks on Tuesday regarding the war on graft, where the latter expressed his frustrations on government officials charged with tackling corruption for failing to deal with the issue saying his hands are tied.

“Corruption is frustrating me. The pressure is on me to do something about corruption but my hands are tied,” Uhuru said during the accountability summit in Statehouse on Tuesday.

Uhuru said that he has done his part according to provisions of the constitution and what was left was for the officials to handle it, adding that he has given them all the resources they need.

“Are we being serious or you are just joking with Kenyan? I have removed everybody who has ever been named on corruption. I have done my part,” he said.

Raila has through a press statement said that with the office of the president and his deputy leading from the top when it comes to stealing from Kenyans, asking them to fight corruption is “like asking hyena’s why they are not looking after our sheep”.

“Kenyans need to come to terms with the fact that the Jubilee Government cannot fight corruption. It has no business spending public money on conferences to fight corruption,” he says.

Raila further adds that EACC is a Moribound organization that has become a laundromat for corruption and the corrupt.

Following Uhuru’s sentiments, Kenyans also took to social media under the hashtag #CryBabyPresident to criticize Uhuru for his stand, which they perceived as “helpless” on corruption.

HERE’S RAILA’S FULL PRESS STATEMENT

PRESS STATEMENT BY RT. HON RAILA ODINGA:
UHURU HAS ABDICATED HIS AUTHORITY AS PRESIDENT; HE CANNOT AND WILL NOT FIGHT CORRUPTION:

RT. HON RAILA ODINGA; EGHYesterday, we watched in disbelief and utter dismay, the President of the Republic of Kenya, H.E. Uhuru Kenyatta throw his arms up in surrender, attack and accuse his officers on live television and blame everyone but himself and his government for the corruption ravaging the country.

I called you here not to respond to the President but to make an appeal to the people of Kenya.
It is clear that when it comes to corruption, we are on our own, and we must think and act as such.

Fellow Kenyans, the time has come for us to accept that on corruption, President Uhuru Kenyatta, Deputy President William Ruto and the Jubilee Government have failed, and failed spectacularly.
Uhuru Kenyatta, William Ruto and Jubilee were never going to resolve the problem of corruption in Kenya.

They are the problem.

Quite apart from totally abdicating his authority as President in matters concerning corruption, the President went further to actively interfere with an ongoing investigation by openly requiring the Auditor General not to travel to the United States of America to follow the trail of the Eurobond proceeds.

This is interference with the due administration of justice meant to ensure that the investigations into the Eurobond scandal will never be conclusively finalized.

Why the President would not want the Auditor General to pursue a matter of such massive public interest only the President knows.

Kenyans, let us stop being in denial. Let us stop the spin machine that is running in State House. Let us accept that the crooks milking Kenya dry operate from the heart of the Jubilee government, with the offices of the

President and that of the Deputy President leading from the top when it comes to stealing from Kenyans.
We have a crisis called corruption in Kenya. We need to deal with it the way we have dealt with other crises of governance over the years. Let us not sit back and expect miracles.

When it comes to corruption, let us not sit back and expect Uhuru and Ruto to act. That is akin to asking hyenas why they are not looking after our sheep. Kenyans need to come to terms with the fact that Jubilee Government cannot fight corruption. It has no business spending public money on conferences to fight corruption. Jubilee itself is corruption.

For one; the Ethics and anti-corruption commission that the President is accusing of misleading him on corruption is a moribund organization that has become a Laundromat for corruption and the corrupt.
Ineffective as EACC is, the President has actively and directly undermined its leadership thus dimming further its capacity to deliver just he has undermined reforms in the Judiciary and the Police. When the President tabled the so-called list of shame on corruption last year, we warned him that it was a manifestation of how not to do it.

We told the President that by relying on documents prepared by the EACC technocrats in the absence of Commissioners whom his government has forced into resignation, he was not only setting himself up for failure, he was also playing games with the people of Kenya and undermining the war on corruption.

In fact, the then chair of the EACC, Mr. Mumo Matemu, warned that the documents the President had tabled before Parliament were incomplete working documents that should never have been made public.

I wish to remind the President that fighting corruption is not just a legal issue. It is also a moral, ethical question. It requires a very personal statement and commitment that as President of Kenya and as Deputy President of Kenya, one will not participate in corruption and one shall not have corrupt people near them.

While the President mocks Kenyans that he cannot set up a firing squad at Uhuru Park so that Kenyans can be happy, all around Kenya there are example of leaders who have made the personal commitment to fight corruption with spectacular results.

That is what Muhammadu Buhari has done since taking power in Nigeria. In November, two top officials were charged in a $2 billion scam to buy fighter jets, helicopters, and ammunition that were never delivered. In October, the former oil minister and the chief of the national petroleum company were arrested.

Across the border in Tanzania, John Pombe Magufuli has set a rare standard for leadership in fighting corruption. Today the former Finance and the former Energy and Mineral Minister and the Tanzania tax collection chief are in jail for corruption, together with numerous other public officials.

In Rwanda, President Kagame has made similar strides and made it clear in word and deed that everybody has to understand the consequences of diverting resources that were meant to deliver health, education, agriculture or infrastructural services. Those consequences are huge in Rwanda.

But what do we see in Kenya? President Uhuru Kenyatta, Deputy President William Ruto have become the biggest defenders of anyone accused of corruption. Uhuru, Ruto and the EACC all cleared and lauded the Devolution Ministry and the NYS saga long before any investigations were done.
They have scrambled to defend the Eurobond scandal and yesterday openly chided and ridiculed the Auditor General for pursuing it.

All evidence now indicates that the NYS was a massive scandal. Yet the person who was the head of that Ministry and therefore the brain behind the NYS scandal has recently been awarded a golden membership of Jubilee Party and is running for governor on Jubilee ticket.

Recent media reports have also indicated another of those who stepped aside in a cloud of scandal, Mr. Davis Chirchir, is being touted to be Secretary General of Jubilee Party. It is a perfect case of “show me your friends and I will show you who you are.”

Mr. President, you made promises to Kenyans in your manifesto on how you would fight corruption. You made a total of 38 pledges to Kenyans. Now you have said you have done your part and will do no more though you have not delivered on any of those pledges.

Were these pledges just plain lies? Were you making false promises just to get to power? And what do you want us to do now that you have said you will do no more? What do you want Kenyans to do? Is it going to be a free for all now?

Kenyans, it is clear that we cannot wait for help from the President. He is aiding and abetting corruption and his government is the prime suspect. We need to take control of our destiny as we did in all the major reforms that have been achieved in Kenya. There is no change that we have achieved in this country because the government gave it to us. We have done it for ourselves. We have always had to fight the government even for the most basic of changes. I will soon start making a number of suggestions to you on how we can do this together with regard to fighting corruption without President Uhuru Kenyatta.

OCTOBER 19, 2016.