Why Echesa’s waywardness exposes shady Mps vetting for CSs
Published on March 3, 2020
Former Sports CS Rashid Echesa is a man under siege as corruption related charges continue to be pushed his way.
Echesa was on Monday arrested in connection with a car-dealing fraud.
The detectives forced their way into the compound around 11am after waiting for over an hour to be allowed in, searched the home.
They then took away registration documents and sale agreements of five vehicles, including a Mercedes Benz KCL 350J, a V8 KCW 298Q, a Lexus KBY 750U, a Volkswagen KAY 388A and a pick-up KBPV 725B.
This comes weeks after he was arrested in February 13 over fraudulent deals for the purchase of firearms and ammunition.
The former cabinet minister dismissed in March 2019 when President Uhuru Kenyatta reorganized his Cabient was taken to DCI Headquarters along Kiambu Road in Nairobi where he was questioned for several hours.
However his continued run ins with the law expose how Mps conduct vetting of appointees in various government positions.
According to the constitution, all the nominees must have satisfied the statutory requirements on leadership and integrity.
They must have been cleared by the Director of Criminal Investigation (DCI), the Kenya
Revenue Authority (KRA) on tax compliance and, the Higher Education Loans Board
(HELB).
However a source who sought anonymity says the house never received any adverse information on any of the nominees from the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) which is the constitutional body
mandated to ensure compliance with and to enforce the provisions of Chapter Six of
the Constitution.
The issue of Echesa’s educational background has also come up regularly with questions being asked whether he indeed went to high school.
Echesa went to Shibale Primary school in Mumias, Kakamega County between 1990 to 1997.
His critics claimed that he was a class seven dropout, questioning his skills to run the Sports Ministry.
When he appeared before the vetting committee, Echesa said he came from a poverty-stricken family where his parents could not afford to educate him and his seven siblings.
“I was born and brought up in a very humble background. My father was just a charcoal burner. My mom could walk like six kilometres away to go sell sweet bananas to earn living,”
His scandal-ridden past had seen him get involved in a number of brawls with many of his political enemies which he says is as a result of his political stand matters 2022 general elections.
Only time will tell how the son of a charcoal burner will survive the tough terrain of politics.