KENYA: Ex-governor, wife jailed for corruption

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A Kenyan court on Thursday sentenced a former county governor to 12 years in prison for corruption, alongside his wife and three others.

Ferdinand Waititu, former governor of the major county of Kiambu, is one of the most high-profile officials to be convicted under the government’s anti-corruption drive.

The court in Nairobi found him guilty of fraud and conflict of interest, the state prosecution service said in a statement.

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Prosecutors had accused him of corruption in the awarding of road-building contracts worth 588 million Kenyan shillings ($4.5 million), according to media reports.

In his ruling, Chief Magistrate Thomas Nzioki ordered Waititu to pay a fine of 53 million Kenyan shillings ($400,000) or face a 12-year jail term. He also banned the defendants from holding public office for 10 years.

On Thursday, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar accused the UNHRC of anti-Semitism and said his country “joins the United States and will not participate in the UNHRC”.

Saar added that the decision “was reached in light of the ongoing and unrelenting institutional bias against Israel in the Human Rights Council, which has been persistent since its inception in 2006”.

A Stockholm court had been due to rule Thursday whether Momika, a Christian Iraqi, was guilty of inciting ethnic hatred but said it had postponed its ruling until February 3 as a result of his death.