Kenya's anti-graft agency will charge Industrialisation Minister Henry Kosgey with abuse of office, the latest in the east African nation's renewed fight against endemic graft.
Kosgey was questioned by the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC) in November over the importation of second-hand vehicles.
Higher Education Minister William Ruto was arrested late last year and charged with corruption while his foreign affairs counterpart Moses Wetangula was forced out by parliament over corruption in the purchase of land for Kenyan embassies abroad.
Both Ruto and Wetangula are out of the cabinet as the court case against Ruto and an investigation against Wetangula proceed.
KACC said it had forwarded its recommendations on Kosgey’s case along with others to the attorney general’s office.
"The Attorney-General concurred with us that the minister for industrialisation Henry Kosgey should be arrested and charged for abuse of office," Patrick Lumumba, KACC’s director told Reuters by phone.
Lumumba said the minister would be arrested within the next 24 hours. Kosgey and Ruto are also on a list of six people being investigated by the International Criminal Court at The Hague for their roles in post-election violence in Kenya in 2008.
Kosgey is chairman of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party of Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
Analysts say corruption has tarnished the image of east Africa’s biggest economy and stifled economic growth, deterring potential investors.
Kenya is ranked 154th of 178 in Transparency International’s 2010 corruption perceptions index, on a par with Central African Republic, Comoros, Congo-Brazzavile and Russia.
"This country must wake up to the fact that corruption is a corrosive on the nation and must be fought at all levels," Lumumba said.
