Kenyan Finance Minister Henry Rotich pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to corruption charges over the award of two dam tenders.Kenya’s Finance Minister Henry Rotich pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to corruption charges over the award of two dam tenders, in an unprecedented legal move against a sitting minister in a country notorious for graft.
The case stems from an investigation into the misuse of funds in two dam projects planned in western Kenya, overseen by Italian construction company CMC Di Ravenna. CMC di Ravenna denied wrongdoing on Monday and said it had not been informed of any such request. Officials of the company were not available for comment on Tuesday.
Hasnain Malik, managing director of frontier markets equity strategy at London-based firm Tellimer, said Rotich’s arrest laid bare splits within the ruling Jubilee coalition. “Kenyan growth is more reliant on effective public project spending … a divided government is a problem,” he said. “Investors should worry that this arrest is a reflection of those divisions.”