Kenyan leader vows to end corruption, impunity

NAIROBI, Aug. 12  — Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on Sunday vowed to sustain the fight against corruption and impunity even though it has cost him friends and allies.
Kenyatta said he will not relent in the ongoing crackdown to reclaim illegally acquired public property including land.
The government will not relent until the battle to rid Kenya of corruption and impunity is won, he said.
“I have lost close friends over the war on corruption. We must be ready to lose friends and do what is right in the eyes of God,” Kenyatta said during a church service in Nairobi.
Neither money nor political connections will save those in the wrong, he said.
“Let’s develop a nation that has a conscience and one that is driven by God-fearing people,” Kenyatta said, adding that corruption is one of the forces that keeps frustrating national dreams, including access to quality education, quality health care, decent meals for all, and quality jobs that give pride and dignity to Kenyans.
He also revealed that he has been receiving calls to stop the ongoing demolition of buildings erected on riparian land in Nairobi but vowed the government will not relent in the current drive which demonstrates the government’s commitment to end impunity and restore the rule of law.
“Over the last few weeks I have received many calls being asked ‘how can you sit and just watch all this destruction going on. You must stop it.’ But I said, it is difficult to stop, not because we love to destroy but because we must fight impunity,” said Kenyatta.
“We must recognize that for this country to succeed, we must fight corruption because it is one of those forces preventing us from achieving our dreams,” he said.
The government has intensified its crackdown on properties built on riparian land, with buildings worth billions of shillings reduced to rubble in Nairobi as the government moves to reclaim riparian land.
Several shopping malls in Nairobi have been demolished for being on riparian land.
More multi-million shilling buildings are expected to come down soon. – XINHUA