The Cabinet Secretary nominee for Interior Prof Kithure Kindiki told parliament Thursday that he never exploited his position as Minister to unlawfully benefit from state.
Kithiki who served in President William Ruto’s first cabinet before he was dismissed when the entire cabinet was sent home last month maintained that he has observed integrity and that his hands remain clean from any form of corruption.
Kindiki, the first nominee to appear before Parliament’s committee on Appointments, maintained that for almost two years at the helm of Interior Ministry, he did not benefit from any improper business.
“I have not done any business with government. I have not applied for any tender by myself, by proxy, by relative or by anybody,” he said while making a case for his reappointment to the post.
If he had any money outside salary since appointment, he says a majority of it came from his law firm.
“Mr. speaker, before I was appointed, my wealth was at Ksh.544 Million, I said at that time and which I still do now, that I have run a business which today I do not participate in that business. I don’t practice law, but my law firm is alive and working. Much of that money has come from the revenue from my law firm which is still active but being managed by other people,” he explained to the Committee chaired by Speaker Moses Wetangula
He added that more of the increment in his net worth is because of legal fees, some of which were still pending at the time he was being appointed, “and I said it here.” He explained that some of them have been paid.
“In fact, two months after I was appointed, one of the clients paid a significant amount of legal fees which had been pending….None of my money has come from the public except the salary and allowances that I am entitled to,” he said
