Revolving door of graft cases exposes a system that shields the powerful

It has become a familiar ritual: The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) stage late-night arrests, parade suspects before cameras and promise swift justice.

The dramatic apprehension of Joe Sang at the Karen Blixen coffee garden, alongside the high-profile detentions of Daniel Kiptoo and Mohamed Liban, were textbook examples of flashy, front-page spectacles designed to convince a tired public that accountability is finally coming.

Yet, five days after their arrest, the ODPP still had no idea what charges to file. The police kept them in cells with no clear charge in mind. Months later, the charges will be quietly withdrawn, the files gather dust, and the powerful go back to business as usual.

The current oil scandal where the top-most officer, Energy and Petroleum Cabinet Secretary Opiyo Wandayi, has been let off the hook while his juniors have been thrown under the bus, is a classic example of how corruption cases are handled by the Ruto government.

Documents obtained by this newspaper about the near-catastrophic fuel crisis of March 2026 reveal that Gulf Energy, a nominated oil marketing company, failed to deliver a contracted 85,000-metric-ton petrol cargo (PMS KG05/2026). The vessel, MT Elka Apollon, was stuck at Jebel Ali, unable to pass the Strait of Hormuz. Gulf’s partial substitute left a 9,000-ton shortfall.

Stock-out date

By March 19, national stocks had dropped to just 72,908 cubic metres, with a projected stock-out date of March 30. Wandayi was in the loop through several emails, letters and minuted meetings by top ministry officials.

President Ruto was also in the know since it’s a National Security Council Committee (NSCC) meeting that okayed intervention matters into the oil crisis.

With the NSCC directing emergency action, the government awarded contingency contracts to One Petroleum (60,000 MT, delivered 25-27 March) and Oryx Energies (60,000 MT, due 5-7 April). Even then, Gulf offered a substandard 37,000 MT cargo that required quality waivers for lower octane and higher sulphur and manganese content.

The Director of Criminal Investigations chose to downplay the delay in presenting the suspects in court, saying it is “work in progress”.

DCI Mohamed Amin told The Standard that investigations into the matter were yet to be concluded hence the suspects were not arraigned yesterday.

“We are progressing with the investigations and upon conclusion, the relevant file(s) will be forwarded to the ODPP for final directions.

“At the moment, all the suspects are out on bond with instructions to be reporting to the investigating officers at DCI Headquarters on daily basis,” he said.

A lawyer representing one of the suspects said that they still do not know what they will be charged with, and were still at the statement-recording phase.

The Standard established that more people in the petroleum circles were being pursued to record statements. These include a 31-member committee that recommended the importation of the condemned fuel.

The five suspects are out on a police bond.

The Standard also contacted Director of Public Prosecutions Renson Ingonga on the status of the high-profile arrests and when the ODPP will finally charge the suspects in court. He failed to respond to our queries. 

Judicial action

There is a troubling pattern in the country’s anti-corruption war where senior officials resign or get arrested with great fanfare, only for the cases to collapse or freeze before any meaningful judicial action. From edible oil to fertiliser to healthcare, billions of shillings have disappeared, heads have rolled, yet courtrooms remain conspicuously silent.

In the edible oil scandal, the saga began with a November 2022 Cabinet memorandum giving the Kenya National Trading Corporation (KNTC) authority to import essential commodities as an intervention measure to lower the cost of living. By August 2024, a Senate probe revealed that taxpayers lost Sh6.6 billion out of Sh9 billion earmarked for edible oil imports. Overall, Sh16.5 billion was paid to just three firms—Charma Holdings Limited, Multi Commerce FZC and Shehena Commodity—under a ‘special’ procurement method.

The repercussions were immediate and brutal. On November 29, 2023, KNTC Managing Director Pamela Mutua was arrested by DCI officers to record statements over the oil importation scandal. She resigned from the corporation in January 2024 following the investigations. Former Trade Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria—whom activist Boniface Mwangi later claimed resigned to “escape the edible oil heist,” accusing Kuria, Trade CS Rebecca Miano and President Ruto of involvement—also left government under a cloud.

On July 30, 2024, Mutua and former Supply Chain Manager Amos Juma Sikuku were arraigned and charged with six corruption-related counts.

Prosecution witnesses

On August 25, 2025, the DPP received court approval to discontinue charges against Sikuku, citing insufficient evidence. Principal Magistrate Charles Ondieki ruled that continuing the case would no longer be in the public interest. Mutua now stands alone in the dock, with six of 33 prosecution witnesses having testified so far.

In the fertiliser scandal, on April 30, 2024, detectives swooped on senior National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) officials, arresting Managing Director Joseph Muna Kimote, Corporate Secretary John Kiplangat Ngetich and General Marketing Manager John Mbaya Matiri following DPP approval to charge them. They were set to face charges of fraud and conspiracy.

On May 6, 2024, NCPB suspended Kimote and replaced him with Samuel Karogo in an acting capacity. Eight senior officials at the Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) were also suspended over the fake fertiliser fiasco.

But the magnitude of the alleged fraud is staggering. An Auditor General’s report exposed widespread irregularities in the Sh31.5 billion subsidy programme, including a Sh240.4 million payment to a company that did not legally exist—Fifty-One Capital African Diatomite Industries, whose KRA PIN belonged to a different entity entirely. The report flagged Sh139.7 million paid for fertiliser declared unsafe by Kebs, with Sh98.5 million worth already sold to unsuspecting farmers. Fertiliser and cereals worth Sh241.8 million intended for Western and Nyanza regions never reached targeted depots.

Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua went further, claiming 40,000 metric tonnes of fertiliser donated by Russia was given to Maisha Millers and Devki Group, who repackaged and sold it back to the government at market prices, pocketing billions of shillings. President Ruto dismissed the claims as ‘voodoo’.

Yet despite arrests, suspensions and the eventual removal of Agriculture CS Mithika Linturi during Gen Z-led protests, no senior official has faced trial or conviction. The file of additional suspects remains pending at the DPP’s office.

In health matters, the script is the same. The Social Health Authority (SHA), billed as the replacement for the fraud-ridden NHIF, has become a scandal epicentre. By October 2025, the DCI was investigating suspected false claims amounting to Sh10.6 billion, with at least 31 hospitals under investigation.

On September 26, 2025, former Cabinet Minister Justin Muturi demanded the immediate arrest of Health CS Aden Duale, alleging SHA had paid more than Sh10 billion to non-existent hospitals for ghost patients who never received treatment. Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna gave Duale a 48-hour ultimatum to resign or face impeachment, accusing him of “aiding and abetting” the scandal.

Some low-level prosecutions have occurred. On November 4, 2025, six people, including the management of Archprime Medical Clinic in Oyugis, were charged with conspiracy to defraud SHA of Sh17.5 million through falsified medical claims between October 2024 and May 2025. Two SHA officials were separately charged with misappropriation of funds.

But these are peripheral figures. MPs have alleged that powerful figures in State House presided over payments to ghost hospitals—allegations that have gone nowhere.

The Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) notes that corruption cases against Ruto’s allies, including Henry Rotich and Aisha Jumwa, have been dropped, while ordinary Kenyans face trumped-up charges for exercising their right to protest.

The KHRC released a report titled “Ruto’s 3 years of violence, corruption and state capture” on September 20, 2025. It asserts that the ODPP has been weaponised for political ends.

It states: “Under this regime, the ODPP has dropped corruption charges against Ruto allies while zealously prosecuting critics of the state.” It names “Friends of Ruto such as the Senior Advisor on Fiscal Affairs and Budget Policy, Henry Rotich, Cooperatives and MSMEs CS, Wycliffe Oparanya, and former CS Aisha Jumwa” as having “benefited from selective withdrawals of graft cases.”

In contrast, the KHRC claims that “ordinary Kenyans exercising their right to protest have faced trumped-up charges,” noting that “at least 75 demonstrators have been charged with terrorism, while over 450 face serious criminal counts, among them minors as young as 15.”

This double standard, the commission argues, has “gutted public faith in the ODPP, which, instead of defending the Constitution, the office has become an enforcer of Executive power, criminalising dissent while sanitising the corrupt.”