East African Community breathes fire over graft charges against outgoing Secretary General

Arusha. The East African Community (EAC) has rubbished reports associating its outgoing boss Peter Mathuki with graft.

The Arusha-based regional body said the reports carried by a section of the media linking Dr Mathuki with corruption at the EAC were unfounded.

A statement issued by the EAC on Monday March 11th singled out an article published in the latest issue of The East African newspaper.

"We wish to state categorically that the allegations that were carried in the article are baseless, malicious and unfounded," the statement said.

It added that the article was an attempt on assassinating the character of the secretary general of the EAC. 

"We are perturbed that the East African never sought the SG's side of the story on the allegations before the article was published as the rules of natural justice dictate," it added.

The statement issued by the EAC Corporate Communications and Public Affairs Department said the Community should have been given a fair treatment on the issue. 

The rules of objective journalism, it went on, demand that there are two sides in a story where it involves two parties which "must be given a fair hearing". 

"The SG was not given the right of reply before the story was published. 

"We were only shocked to see some text messages from some East African journalists seeking our comment after the article had been published",

This, according to the secretariat, a key organ of the Community, was "by no means unfair."

The purported allegations and accusations are therefore false and the EAC remains a focused and formidable Regional Economic Bloc. 

"We would like East Africans and all our stakeholders to remain confident about the status of the Community," the statement pointed out.

The secretariat states that the EAC operates in a structured manner where there are proper checks and balances in all its operations.

Each member state has appointed a Cabinet Minister responsible for coordinating EAC Affairs at the national level. 

The Cabinet Ministers form the EAC Council of Ministers which is the policy organ of the Community. 

The Council of Ministers supervises the EAC secretariat. The statement hastened to say that at no point in time has there been queries raised by the Council of Ministers on the said allegations.

The EAC Council of Ministers, the powerful organ of the Community, always gives prior approval to expenditure of funds as stipulated in EAC’s Financial Rules and Regulations.

Secondly, there is an Audit Commission which prepares a report on all activities of the Community conducted by all Partner States, in line with International Audit Standards.  

The statement further added that since Dr Mathuki assumed office three years ago "there has never been any adverse audit reports on his part or the Secretariat and these audit reports remain available at the offices of the Community".

The operations and activities of the Community are continually audited to ensure compliance with the laid down standards and procedures. 

It was, therefore, misleading for The East African to publish information "that is unsubstantiated and to say the least, malicious and misleading".

Dr Mathuki was appointed the sixth EAC SG on February 27th, 2021 upon nomination by the Kenya government, and was to serve for a five year, non-renewable term.

However, on Friday President William Ruto nominated him as Kenya's ambassador to Russia, a position which will force him to step down as EAC boss. 

Kenya has also nominated its national Catherine Mwende Mueke, a long time UN staffer to replace Dr Mathuki upon endorsement at the EAC Summit of Heads of State.

Reports on Dr Mathuki's redeployment from the service of the EAC has generated intense debate in the region being the first time the EAC boss has to step down before the end of tenure.