Kenya's top anti-corruption officials were suspended today following a bitter standoff with parliament and after they alleged widespread graft in the east African nation.
President Uhuru Kenyatta removed the chairman and deputy chairwoman of Kenya's Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) after MPs voted to sanction the pair, accusing them of incompetence and abuse of office.
The crisis in the fight against graft comes less than a month after dozens of top Kenyan politicians and civil servants were named in an EACC report that gave a damning indictment of the scale of corruption in the country.
A total of 175 people were named in the report, including five cabinet ministers, 13 governors and a host of civil servants, MPs and members of the judiciary.
Kenyatta had also ordered those named in the report to step aside while they are under investigation.
Presidential spokesman Manoah Esipisu said that even though the EACC bosses had now also been suspended pending another investigation into their work, he insisted that this "in no way hinders the work" of the anti-corruption body.
Last month Kenyatta called corruption "one of the biggest obstacles to our shared vision of security, growth and prosperity", and the presidency has vowed an "unwavering war against corruption" in which there will be "no sacred cows".
But earlier this month the now-suspended deputy chairwoman of the EACC, Irene Keino, had complained publicly that an unnamed "clique" was engaged in a "brazen attempt to force my resignation" and break up the anti-corruption body.
Anti-corruption campaign group Transparency International said he suspension of the officials "threatens current anti-corruption efforts".
"It is important that we do not lose the momentum gained in the fight against corruption," said Samuel Kimeu, head of Transparency International Kenya.
The EACC's latest report, which was released last month, described the Ministry of Lands as "bedevilled with rampant corruption" and run by a "cartel" linked to minister Charity Ngilu. Her predecessor, James Orengo, is also under investigation for involvement in irregular land deals.
