The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) chairperson, Bishop David Oginde, is confident that former Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya will be formally charged with corruption and abuse of office.
Appearing before the National Dialogue Committee (NDC), Oginde, on Tuesday, October 3, stated that EACC completed investigations into the governor nearly one month after his arrest.
Oparanya, an Orange Democratic Movement deputy party leader, was accused of misappropriating Ksh1.3 bullion during his tenure as Kakamega governor between 2013 and 2022.
EACC forwarded the file to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) for further action, with Oginde hopeful that the case may proceed to prosecution.
"As we speak now, we have just concluded our investigations on this particular person," Oginde noted.
"And it's a very rigorous process. We do our own internal audit on each of the cases andif you check very keenly, most of the cases that we forward to the ODPP rarely fail, get withdrawn or dropped," the former bishop added.
The Commission Chairperson further faulted the ODM party led by former Prime Minister Raila Odinga for sensationalising the case against Oparanya.
Oginde, a former CITAM Bishop, refuted allegations that EACC weaponised the war against corruption as claimed by ODM and rather conducted impartial investigations.
“The recent case referred to here is of one of the governors we had summoned to EACC offices for probing and investigations.
"The party to which this former governor belongs came out in full force alleging that this was politicization and weaponization of EACC,” Bishop Oginde condemned ODM.
At the same meeting, Bishop Oginde revealed that nine current and former governors have pending graft cases. Among them are former governors Mike Sonko (Nairobi) and Okoth Obado (Migori).
21 other governors were also under the EACC's radar, with detectives collecting evidence on misappropriation and embezzlement of taxpayers' money.
