President Kenyatta: corruption a national security threat

Kenyan President, Uhuru Kenyatta on Monday declared government corruption a national security threat, linking it to terrorist attacks.

“The bribe accepted by an official can lead to successful terrorist attacks that kill Kenyans. It can let a criminal off the hook for them to return to crime and harm Kenyans,” Kenyatta said.

According to Kenyatta, the economic damage done by corruption also could put millions of lives at peril.

His remarks came two days after planning minister, Anne Waiguru, stepped down over allegations that she had failed to stop the theft of 7.6 million dollars from a national youth empowerment programme.

Five other ministers and 175 officials have also been suspended over accusations of corruption and abuse of office.

The president said he had asked the intelligence services to monitor graft suspects in Kenya, where the Somali Islamist group al-Shabaab had killed hundreds of people over the past two years.

Its biggest attacks targeted an eastern university campus, where at least 148 people were killed in April, and Nairobi’s Westgate shopping mall, where at least 67 people died in Septem.