This is a Decoy, Governor Waiguru Says After Detectives Raid Her Homes, Offices

Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru has spoken out following the Thursday morning raid of her homes and offices by police and detectives from the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC).

Waiguru claimed only her cheque book was seized during the search conducted by a contingent of heavily armed officers in her residences and offices in Nairobi and Kirinyaga, terming it as unnecessary.

"There is nothing you can look for in a person's house to evidence imprest management. It is therefore a shock to be woken up by a battery of fully armed officers raiding my house to 'look for evidence on imprests'. Indeed, and EACC can confirm, the multi-person search, complete with police toting machine guns elicited only one document from my official residence and from from my house in Nairobi – my cheque book. This could have been easily availed with a simple request," she said.

She added: "I am also surprised that EACC now claims the investigation is of Sh22 million. I wonder where they got this new figure from considering in the impeachment allegations and their own interrogation of the same the amount was Sh10 million."

EACC in a statement said Waiguru and other Kirinyaga County government officials are being investigated over claims of pocketing Sh21 million in travel allowances for trips that never happened.

She linked the raid to the 2022 succession politics in Mt. Kenya region, adding that it was meant to divert attention from corruption allegations against a " multitude of persons."

"The inescapable conclusion is that this is not about investigating travel imprests but a wider scheme to shape 2022 succession politics of Mt Kenya, and, to detract from critical allegations against a multitude of persons on various multi-million-shillings corruption allegations. This is a decoy," she noted.