Editor's Review

“Senator Olekina made false allegations and misled the country on the content of the Bill and implications of the amendments introduced by the Senate."

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has called out Narok Senator Ledama Olekina after he claimed that the Conflict Of Interest Bill 2023 is being sponsored by an international organization.

In a statement on Thursday, July 4, EACC CEO Twalib Mbarak accused Ledama of misleading the public on the bill.

Mbarak also alleged that the Narok Senator attacked EACC to justify his amendments to the Conflict Of Interest Bill 2023

“Senator Olekina, made false allegations and misled the country on the content of the Bill and implications of the amendments introduced by the Senate. In an attempt to justify the Senate's unanimous adoption of his amendments mutilating the Conflict of Interest, 2023, Senator Olekina dismissed the Bill as a useless product sponsored by EACC in cahoots with an international organization,” read the statement in part.

Mbarak noted that the Bill in question is a Cabinet Bill which was tabled in the National Assembly and Senate by Majority Leaders of the two houses.

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File image of Ledama Olekina. 

The EACC boss accused Senator Leadama of lying to Kenyans to shift public attention and cripple the fight against corruption through the conflict of interest.

“Whereas the Commission does not ordinarily respond to politicization of its work. blackmail and intimidation by its detractors, clients and their sympathizers, the gravity of the Senator's false allegations regarding a matter of such great public interest and national importance, cannot, be permitted to stand,” Mbarak stated.

He further urged politicians from politicizing the fight against corruption but rather to support the fight by strengthening legal frameworks to address current legal bottlenecks that are inimical to public accountability.

On June 27, Ledama claimed that the bill was being sponsored by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and EACC.

The ODM Senator questioned why the bill was proposing to bar close and distant relatives of state officials from directly trading with public institutions.

“The provisions proposed in that conflict of interest bill which was sponsored by the IMF and EACC is that the commission wanted to be out in as the body that goes out to there and looks for conflict of interest instead of the body that fights corruption,” Ledama claimed.