The only CS who has been jobless since Uhuru fired him

Former Transport and Roads CS Michael Kamau appears to either suffer a very bad luck or to be a victim of a high-level witch-hunt.

In 2015, President Kenyatta ordered state officials who had been named or were under investigation to resign.

The names and investigation were contained in a secret file submitted to the President by the EACC and contained a total of 6 CSs.

Charity Ngilu EACC

Then Lands CS Charity Ngilu was named in three corruption-related cases. She was accused of conspiracy to inflate the value of a plot in Mombasa with a view to a personal benefit as well as an attempt to deprive Myta Limited of a land located along Statehouse Crescent Road in Nairobi.

The third allegation, which later saw her charged involved an allegation that she blocked investigations into the Sh8 billion Karen land scandal.

Former Energy CS Davis Chirchir left Cabinet after it emerged that EACC was investigating him on three corruption cases, including the famous Chicken Gate Scandal.

Chirchir was also under investigation over claims that he was involved in an irregular Sh50 billion tender at Kenya Pipeline Company.

Kambi Kazungu EACC

Ex-Labour CS Kazungu Kambi was alleged to have been involved in corruption deals at the NSSF's Sh5 billion project in Tassia.

Then Agriculture CS Felix Koskei was investigated over claims of using a 100-acre potato farm for his own use. He also faced accusations of secretly allocating sugar import permits, and demanding bribes from parastatal heads.

Kamau, on his part, was accused of colluding in the irregular award of a road tender “leading to massive embezzlement of funds”.

Curiously, the road tender (Kamukuywa-Kaptama-Kapsokwony-Sirisia road) involved Sh33 million only and had been done in 2007 when Kamau served as a Chief Engineer at the Ministry of Roads and Public Works.

Transport CS

Kamau, a career public servant, had from 2008 served as a Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Roads - a position that requires rigorous vetting by the EACC.

In 2013, President Kenyatta picked Kamau to be Transport CS after undergoing a similar vetting process.

It boggles a curious mind how the EACC would have failed to note Kamau's past record, eight years after the "crime" had been committed.

But if that is not curious enough, EACC detectives on Thursday raided the former CS' home - ostensibly to obtain evidence in the same case surrounding the Kamukuywa-Kaptama-Kapsokwony-Sirisia road.

If the EACC does not have enough evidence to prosecute a case that happened eleven years and which has been in courts for the past four years, then we can conclude that Kamau has been unfairly harassed over this matter.

Settling scores

It should not be lost that all the other CSs who were sacked alongside Kamau have all gotten lucrative jobs in the public sector.

Ngilu is now Kitui Governor. President Kenyatta picked Chirchir to be his Chief Agent during the two presidential elections of 2017.

The Head of State has similarly appointed Kambi to chair the board of the Coast Development Authority while Koskei was named a commissioner of the powerful Judicial Service Commission.

While Kenya has a deep-rooted corruption, it is wrong when it is used to settle scores as it appears to be the case with the former Transport CS.