President Uhuru Kenyatta has suspended the chairman of the Ethics and Anti- Corruption Commission (EACC) Mumo Matemu and his deputy Irene Keino after parliament voted yesterday to have the duo sent home.

State House spokesperson Manoah Esipisu said in a statement the two would remain out of office pending investigation by a tribunal to be formed by President Kenyatta.

“They are suspended from undertaking all functions and duties of those offices with immediate effect pending the outcome of the tribunal, which will be set up in accordance with the law. This process in no way hinders the work of the organization which remains constitutionally established and operational,” read part of the statement by State House to the media.

130 MPs against 52 voted to send home the EACC bosses, while three MPs abstained from voting. The legislators also recommended the President to set up a tribunal to probe the matter.

Matemu and his deputy Irene Keino are also accused of incompetence and abuse of office.

IMPUNITY FIGHTS BACK ANTI CORRUPTION BODY

The crisis facing Matemu and his deputy is not new and it has somehow become the norm for the anti-corruption body to be targeted whenever it rattles some untouchable elements while exercising its mandate to tackle the massive corruption within the government.

The two had told the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee that their woes set in when they went for the Anglo Leasing files.

Matemu is suffering the same fate as his predecessors, who have been kicked out of office by MPs in acts of vengeance.

The last man to serve as Kenya Anti-Corruption Commisison (KACC) boss before it was scrapped and replaced by the EACC was Lawyer Patrick Lumumba, popularly known as PLO.

PLO, who was appointed in September 2010 only to be shown the door barely a year later (August 2011) had introduced a new vigour into the graft war but was removed from office along with his team in 2011 after MPs voted to disband the KACC, allegedly in order to fulfill a constitutional requirement to create a new commission.

Prior to being ousted, KACC had launched a number of probes including an investigation into the management of the Constituency Development Funds (CDF) where MPs act as patrons. PLO was also probing the Anglo-leasing scandal as well as inquiring some Members of Parliament during that time, who had been linked to corruption scandals. Read more

Such deliberate intrusion by parliament absolutely incapacitates the anti-graft body; rendering it a toothless dog as far as its mandate to fight corruption in Kenya is concerned.