Renowned anti-corruption campaigner John Githongo on Tuesday flew to Washington DC where he is scheduled to take part in a press conference on Wednesday aimed at discussing the controversial Sh48 Billion weapons purchase deal that is being probed by the US Congress.
Githongo, who is one of the fiercest critics of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s government, was invited by Congressman Ted Budd who has led the campaign to cancel the deal, terming it as a major scandal.
Budd, who belongs to Trump’s Republican party, will brief the press on “recent efforts to stop the profiteering on foreign weapon deals, specifically focusing on the recent Kenya deal being targeted in an ongoing congressional probe”.
The press invite from Budd’s congressional office adds that Githongo, who was Kenyatta’s classmate at St Mary’s School, will discuss “his experience in exposing one of the biggest government corruption scandals in Kenyan history”.
Mr Budd has been arguing that a weapons manufacturer in his home State of North Carolina is able to provide at a far lower price, the weapons that Kenya has agreed to purchase at Sh28 Billion more from a New York-based contractor.
Githongo, while serving as the Ethics Permanent Secretary in the Kibaki administration, exposed the infamous Anglo-leasing scandal.
Roey Rosenblith, the US director for Anti-Corruption International, will join Mr Githongo and Congressman Budd at the Capitol Hill press conference.
