The Cabinet Secretary (CS) nominee for Cooperatives and MSME Development Wycliffe Oparanya has dismissed the corruption allegations against him cited by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC).
Speaking during the vetting committee on Sunday, August 4, National Assembly majority leader Kimani Ichung’wah asked Oparanya to provide an explanation concerning graft cases linked to him.
“Nominee you are here before us, and I want you to shed more light more on these allegations,” Ichung’wah asked.
In response, Oparanya said the EACC has never invited him to record his statement about the corruption allegations.
“The fact are not true; nobody has come to me to write a statement. I don’t know if this prosecution is one sided. I have never been given a chance to share my story,” Oparanya said.
Oparanya emphasized that he served diligently for ten years as governor and was a minister for five years. He explained that there were audit reports, none of which identified him as corrupt.
“When I was Minister for Planning, the ministry was voted the best performing ministry. Look at your records—when I was governor, everywhere people were saying devolution was working in Kakamega. If I worked for ten years and nobody came to my office about any corruption case until August 2023, when we were involved in demonstrations,” he said.
Azimio Demos
He narrated that the allegations began in August 2023 when he was active in the Azimio-One Kenya Alliance demonstrations.
According to Oparanya, someone called him and informed him that EACC officials were looking for him because he was involved in the demonstrations.
Oparanya also mentioned that the officers inquired about his connections with Azimio leader Raila Odinga and whether he kept firearms at home.
Additionally, he stated that the officers asked him to explain where the opposition was getting funds to finance the demonstrations.
“What has the questions got to do with corruption? So, as I sit here, Honourable chairman, nobody has come to take any statement from me. I don’t know what I am being accused of because I am also just seeing it in the papers like you,” he said.
Also Read: Headache for Raila, Ruto as EACC Flags Oparanya
Oparanya on Funds Frozen by EACC
He explained that his lawyer obtained documents when the EACC went to court to freeze money that was not in their account.
Oparanya said the money in question was in Central Pension Fund (CPF) accounts, where he was buying property.
“So, when CPF was called by the EACC to provide a statement, they were the ones who alerted me that they were tracking the money I had paid into their account. The money had nothing to do with Kakamega County; it was from my account and from someone who was buying my house,” he said.
He stated that 20 EACC officers came to his home, some in police uniform and others in plain clothes.
Also Read: EACC Responds to Reports of Stopping Oparanya from Being Appointed as CS
“I have never been called to provide a statement up to this moment. I don’t know what I am being accused of; if I did, I could have explained. I have no statement in the EACC file,” he said.
“I applied for protection because my family was harassed, and I was scared due to the way they were questioning me. I didn’t know what would happen next, so I went to court for protection,” Oparanya said.
Oparanya explained that he only went to the EACC headquarters in October 2023 to collect his children’s which were collected by the officers. He also stated that not even the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) had informed him about the allegations.
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