Jomo Kenyatta Suspended Paul Ngei Over Corruption Charges

In 1966, President Jomo Kenyatta suspended his Cabinet Member Paul Ngei over corruption accusations - making him the first ever Minister to face action over the vice. 

Kenyatta was forced to suspend the then Cabinet Minister after it was discovered that he stole 2000 bags of maize.

It was alleged that he took the loot for his wife Emma Ngei from a famine kitty he oversaw at the time.

The smuggling of the commodity caused an acute maize shortage in the country.

Mzee Kenyatta suspended him and instituted a commission of inquiry to look into the matter.

[caption caption="Mr Paul Ngei who was Kenya's Marketing and Cooperatives Minister in 1965"][/caption]

Since Ngei was a close ally of the president, the commission concluded that he (Ngei) had no case to answer as it was under influence of the President.

He went on to serve for the remainder of Kenyatta's time as president in 1978 and was also in President Daniel arap Moi government from 1978–1990 where he held several ministerial positions. 

Ngei was no stranger to controversy judging from an instance in the 1980s allegedly walked into a DT Dobie showroom in Industrial Area and took a Mercedes-Benz instructing the car dealership to send the bill to the government - a car he would drive for 20 years.

In 2015, President Uhuru Kenyatta instructed some of his cabinet members to step aside to allow for investigations over allegations of corruption.

CSs Felix Koskei (Agriculture), Engineer Michael Kamau (Infrastructure and Transport), Anne Waiguru (Devolution) and Charity Ngilu (Lands) stepped aside to allow for investigations.

Uhuru's second term has already been marred by multi-billion corruption scandals.

In 2018, at least five scandals have been unearthed bringing to the fore the extent to which corruption has permeated the highest levels of government.

The one scandal that has so far garnered national attention is the Sh9 Billion National Youth Service (NYS) scam that has seen the NYS Director-General Richard Ndubai arrested.

[caption caption="President Uhuru Kenyatta "][/caption]

 

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