CS Balala bribery scandal shocker as State House intervenes to save minister -

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Anti-graft war seriously compromised with selective prosecutions

State House is actively lobbying behind the scenes to save Cabinet Secretary for Tourism and Wildlife Najib Balala from imminent prosecution for abuse of office and corruption charges.

The new Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission Secretary Twalib Mbarak was earlier this summoned to State House and asked to find ways of exonorating CS Balala from the scandal in which he personally awarded a Sh100 million contract for provision of event organising services during the American Society of Travel Agents Expo at Kenyatta International Convention Centre in February 2017.

With the intervention of State House CS Balala on Monday snubbed formal summons to appear before EACC officials detectives to record a statement.

The allegations fly in the face of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s pledge that there would be no sacred cows and will seriously dent his government’s credibility in the war against graft.

Balala purportedly flew to Kisumu over the weekend for official duties but Kenya News Day learnt he sought the urgent assistance of NASA President Raila Odinga on the same case.

Kenyan News Day also learnt EACC were piecing together evidence in which CS Balala used his position and flouted public procurement laws during when he singled sourced an incompetent acquaintance to organise the tourism conference. The deal reportedly earned Balala Sh27 million kickback.

Although EACC claimed Balala had asked to be given an alternative date as he had several out-of-town engagements this week, the true position was Balala was busy seeking political intervention over the scandal which threatens his 20 year career in public service.

The minister was pictured with Raila in Kisumu on Monday.

According to EACC sources, former PS Fatuma Hirsi and senior ministry staff had recorded explosive statements implicating Balala on the deal.

To make matters worse, Treasury was left with bills running to tens of millions of shillings following the disastrous expo in which the contracted service provider failed to meet most of its obligations.

Last week, the EACC was said to be finalizing its investigations with water-tight evidence against the CS and after recording Balala’s personal statement on Monday this week, it was expected to forward the file to Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji recommending the prosecution of the minister.

It remains to be seen how EACC will manage the affair going forward. However, if Balala escapes prosecution, then President Uhuru Kenyatta risks being accused of double standards and driving a selective war against grand corruption in his government.