Wycliffe Oparanya to sue EACC for defamation

Cabinet Secretary for Cooperatives and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises nominee Wycliffe Oparanya will next week sue the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) for alleged defamation.

Mr Oparanya's move comes as Western Region leaders accused the anti-graft body of frustrating the former Kakamega governor.

 Mr Oparanya is expected to be vetted by Parliament on Sunday, August 4, after being nominated for the Co-operatives and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Development ministry amid his bad standing with the anti-graft body, which is blocking his entry into the cabinet.

Through his advocate Danstan Omari, Mr Oparanya is in the process of suing the anti-graft body Chief Executive Officer Mr Twalib Mbarak, EACC Chairman David Oginde and Commissioners John Ogallo, Cecil Mutuku, Monica Muiru and Alfred Mshimba for defamation if they will not retract their claims as communicated to the National Assembly.

 On Friday, EACC claimed Mr Oparanya had a pending case, despite the Director of Public Prosecution having withdrawn earlier recommendations to have him prosecuted.

 “It is our instructions to demand, which we hereby do, that you retract or cause to be retracted your communication…with the same publicity and notoriety. Failure to heed our demands, we have strict instructions to institute proceedings against yourselves jointly and severally as individuals exercising personal interests to the detriment of respect for the rule of law and the constitution of Kenya,” said Advocate Omari.

Read:  Blow to Oparanya as EACC tells Parliament not to approve his nomination to Cabinet

Upon filing of the suit, Mr Oparanya will seek compensation for defamation.

 Also, Mr Oparanya wants the EACC to “cease from harassing” him with unsubstantiated threats to charge him with corruption to stop him from offering his services to Kenyans as a cabinet secretary.

Mr Omari decried the EACC’s decision to profile his client as corrupt, saying that it is “reckless and unprocedural” as it goes against Articles 49 and 50 of the Constitution which provides that only a court of competent jurisdiction can declare someone unfit or corrupt.

Irregular benefits

The EACC claims that Mr Oparanya, whose vetting by the Assembly is slated for August 4, received some irregular benefits amounting to Sh56.7 million between 2013 and 2022 when he served as the governor of Kakamega County.

 For instance, the EACC claims that a Contractor – Sesela Resources Ltd, had on July 28, 2021, irregularly deposited Sh10 million to the account of Mr Oparanya’s lawyer, Marende & Nyaundi Advocates.

The EACC also wanted DPP to investigate how Sh2m was sent to Winbrics Logistics Limited, a company associated with Mr Oparanya.

 On May 22, 2022, the EACC claimed that Sabema International Limited paid Sh1 million in kickbacks to Mr Oparanya’s personal bank account.

 Initially, the EACC had forwarded a file to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) recommending that Mr Oparanya be charged with corruption.

 Mr Oparanya’s advocates consequently obtained a court order staying any arrest or prosecution based on information obtained by the EACC.

 “We provided exonerating evidence to show that the former governor was completely innocent. We provided bank statements, sale agreements, purchase agreements and all the accounts of the larger Kakamega County and the DPP undertook to review the file,” recounted Mr Omari.

Consequently, the DPP forwarded the recommendation to the EACC for further investigation.

 The EACC, the advocate said, did so and forwarded a complete file to the DPP and “the evidence that was provided was not sufficient to charge the former governor and the DPP wrote back advising EACC to close the file”.

 On July 8, 2024, the DPP wrote to the EACC withdrawing their decision of December 18, 2023, that had granted EACC consent to charge Mr Oparanya.

 However, EACC read malice in the failure by the DPP to approve the arrest of the former Kakamega County CEO, occasioning the letter to the Assembly clerk.

Block the vetting

 Meanwhile, Leaders from Kakamega, Vihiga and Busia have slammed EACC for being used politically to block the vetting, clearance and appointment of Mr Oparanya into the cabinet with graft allegations.

 Lugari MP Nabii Nabwera, Vihiga Senator Godfrey Osotsi and Kakamega Governor Fernandes Barasa, Innocent Mugabe (Likuyani), Emmanuel Wangwe (Navakholo), Elsie Muhanda (woman representative and Vihiga Senator Godfrey Osotsi and Budalangi MP Raphael Wanjala claimed EACC was interfering in the clearance of Mr Oparanya by inciting parliament against the former governor.

 The leaders want parliament to remain competent and handle the vetting process without intrusion, maintaining that EACC has no power to clear anyone on matters that are in court.

 “Since the DPP has cleared Mr Oparanya, the vetting committee should not interfere with any other body in the discharge of its vetting and clearing mandate of the cabinet nominees. EACC should limit itself to its mandate of investigations and leave the court process to the ODPP and the Judges,” said Mr Osotsi.

He said the legislature is an independent organ and is under no obligation to listen and heed advice touching on the integrity of the nominees.

 According to Mr Osotsi, since Oparanya has not taken any plea, he remains innocent until the court determines his case.

 Mr Oparanya’s successor, Fernandes Barasa said what EACC was doing was a pure political witch hunt which the ODM fraternity would not allow.

 "The EACC should stop politicising the former governor's appointment to the Cooperatives and MSMEs docket. The ODPP has announced the true position of Mr Oparanya in the alleged corruption case and that is what the vetting committee should rely on,” said Mr Barasa.

Mr Barasa said Kakamega is known among all the 47 counties to have been the best developed during Oparanya’s tenure – and this could not have been achieved if the former governor embezzled public funds.

But in what seemed to be a determination to proceed with the vetting of the CS nominee, the National Assembly Deputy Speaker Gladys Boss explained Friday that the EACC has no mandate to declare anyone corrupt.