Kenya truth panel boss quits

The head of Kenya's Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRCV) set up to probe post election violence in the country has quit amid persistent allegations of corruption.Bethuel Kiplagat is the latest of high-ranking officials from the Kibaki administration to step down over graft.

Noor Khamis /Reuters

"It has come at the right time," said Peter Oriare, a political analyst from the University of Nairobi.

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Peter Oriare, political analyst, University of Nairobi

Daniel Finnan

"I think Kiplagat should have resigned much earlier than he did because the issues at hand were issues involving his personal integrity as senior state officials, especially during the [Daniel Arap] Moi era," Oriare told RFI. "And some of the issues civil society
were raising were very serious indeed."

Kiplagat was recently named in an illegal land acquisition probe. He was also a senior government official in the 1980s during the violence that the commission is supposed to investigate.

His deputy had resigned last March, citing the land probe accusations and his position in the  1980s, while Ronald Skye, a US law professor and member of the TJRC, also quit last month. Skye claimed that he had "lost faith" in the commission's ability to fulfil its mandate.

President Mwai Kibaki issued a statement immediately after Kiplagat's resignation, vowing to "deal firmly with corrupt officials" without mentioning him by name.

Last week Kenya's chief justice Evan Gicheru appointed a tribunal to investigate corruption allegations against the boss of the TJRC.

"This is a good example of when your leadership is in doubt and there's an outcry by the public for you to step down, the best thing is to step down," Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission public relations officer Nicholas Simani told RFI.

Kiplagat claims he had been hounded by the media.

A number of dignitaries, including Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu had called for his resignation.

Kiplagat is the latest to step aside-- over the past month, William Ruto has resigned from the higher education ministry, Moses Wetangula has resigned from the foreign ministry,  and Geoffrey Majiwa has quit his post as Nairobi's mayor.

Kenya is ranked as one the 25 most corrupt countries in the world by the anti-graft watchdog Transparency International.