President William Ruto has chosen Henry Rotich, a former Treasury Cabinet secretary, to serve as state financial adviser.
Rotich, who was abruptly fired by previous President Uhuru Kenyatta from his position as Treasury Secretary, will now work for Ruto’s office as a senior counsellor on fiscal operations and budget policy.
Rotich will provide guidance on managing the public finances and economy in his new position.Former Governor Kamau Thugge of the Central Bank had earlier held the role.
Joseph Kinyua, the previous head of public service, had selected Thugge for the role. Rotich was found not guilty in the Ksh63 billion Arror and Kimwarer dam scam in mid-December of last year.
Trial Magistrate Eunice Nyutu dismissed all charges after finding that there was not enough evidence.”All the individuals charged in this case were hereby exonerated under Section 210 due to insufficiency of proof as a consequence of the reckless desertion of responsibilities by the prosecution,” she wrote at the time.
Together with eight other defendants in the investigation, the former CS was taken into custody in July 2019.Noordin Haji, who was the director of public prosecutions at the time, accused the suspects of breaking procurement laws by contracting with an Italian company to build the two dams.
“It was discovered that the beginning, procurement, and payment processes for the dam projects had been contaminated with substantial unlawful conduct,” Haji said at the time.
The former Treasury chief was accused of conspiring to commit fraud in violation of Section 317 of the Penal Code and Cap 63 of the Laws of Kenya, among other offences.
It was also said that he deliberately ignored rules and procedures related to procurement, which is against Section 48 of the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act No. 3 of 2003 and Provision 45(2)(b).Not long after the allegations were filed, in January 2020, Rotich was relieved of his CS responsibilities.