Two months after being acquitted in the Sh63 billion Arror and Kimwarer graft case, Henry Rotich, the former Treasury CS, has secured a State job.
President William Ruto has appointed Rotich to serve as his Senior Advisor on Fiscal Affairs and Budget Policy, Office of the President. The Head of the Public Service Felix Koskei announced the appointment in a letter this week.
Before assuming the role of Cabinet Secretary in 2013, Rotich served as the head of Macroeconomics at the Treasury.
Rotich possesses a Master’s degree in Economics and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Economics and Sociology from the University of Nairobi.
Rotich served as the Treasury CS during both terms of the retired President Uhuru. However, on January 14, 2020, Uhuru was forced to drop him following allegations of graft associated with the Arror and Kimwarer dams project.
“Well-choreographed Acquittal”
Following his acquittal in the Kes. 63 billion dams case, wherein the court criticized the State Prosecution for “choreographing his acquittal”, Rotich maintained his innocence terming the case a political witch-hunt.
“There was some choreographed intention here. The turn of events could give you an indication but it did not occur to me at first that the charges were politically instigated,” he said.
“The matter was sort of politicised later, giving me an indication that there was extraneous consideration to charge me.”
The former CS insisted that no money was lost and advocated for its revival for the benefit of Kenyans.
“I was the CS. I want to tell Kenyans that you cannot lose Sh63 billion What was expended was only the advance payment to the contractor an amount of Sh7.5 billion, Sh3.4 billion for Kimwarer and Sh4.1 billion for Arror,” he said.
Rotich also mentioned that he was unfamiliar with the majority of people who testified in court.
“I did not know the majority of the witnesses. Some of them were from the Kerio Valley Development Authority and I had never met or associated with them. I never knew where they lived,” he said.
