Emotion overwhelmed the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) CEO nominee Mbarak Twalib as he was undergoing vetting by the parliamentary Justice and Legal Affairs Committee (JLAC).
During the cross-examination by the committee chaired by William Cheptumo, the EACC nominee was asked to explain his relationship with his mother.
From the onset, Mbarak appeared to have been taken aback by the question from the committee members.
"On the issue of my mother, I sympathize with her. Its an interesting history. My mother was murdered by my father as an orphan. Removed... eeeh," his narration was cut short as emotions got the better of him.
The EACC CEO nominee tried to fight the engulfing emotional moment with tears rolling down from his eyes.
However, he was able to regain composure with the committee guiding him to skip the topic and address the next question.
The 53-year-old is set to replace Halakhe Waqo, whose six-year non-renewable tenure at the helm of the EACC is coming to an end.
During the vetting, he promised to take his appointment with new zeal, which will take the anti-graft war a notch higher.
"I know there will be setbacks. I know the honeymoon will be short-lived but it is said that when baboons are destroying crops on the farm, just kill the biggest baboon and the rest will run away," he asserted.
Mbarak served in the Kenyan military from 1984 to 1999, where he worked as an infantry officer and later joined the military intelligence until his retirement as a major.
He later joined the National Intelligence Services until 2006 and later worked with EACC.
He is currently the Security and Integrity Manager at the Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) a role he assumed in 2010.
Vowing to borrow a leaf from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) boss George Kinoti, Mbarak hinted of going for high-value targets in the corruption chain.
"I have the skin of a rhino because I started taking risks at an early age. I know exactly what I am getting myself into. I have no fear because at my age. Fear is finally running down.
"Nobody will scare me and I will not take orders to subvert justice from any quarter. The Constitution provides that the EACC is only answerable to Parliament, no other authority," he stated.
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