Vocal Muslim cleric Sheikh Juma Ngao tendered his resignation to Interior CS Joseph Nkaissery as Nacada director citing frustrations in the fight against corruption at the agency.
In the letter to the CS, Ngao said his efforts to fight corruption in the anti-drug abuse agency have seen him branded an enemy of the board and the ministry.
“As a Muslim believer and a cleric, my conscience does not allow me to be working with Nacada and keep quiet when some officials are squandering taxpayers’ money or be viewed as a villain since I am fighting corruption,” Ngao wrote on Friday.
This is a blow to the fight against drugs, especially at the Coast, where the cleric has been the most vocal.
His resignation comes barely two months after former Naivasha MP John Mututho was ousted as chair of the anti-drug agency.
At a press conference on Saturday, Ngao said corrupt elements within the agency and other government quarters are behind Mututho’s woes.
“I will not wait to be hounded out like a thief yet I am not. They did that to Mututho because of our stand against corruption in the agency,” he said.
Mututho, Ngao and director Charles ‘Jaguar’ Njagua have been in the forefront unraveling misappropriation of funds and other irregularities within Nacada.
Their efforts led to the suspension of former CEO William Okedi and seven other officials after the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission stepped in to probe the claims.
Jaguar threatened to resign from his post last year barely three months after he was appointed by President Uhuru Kenyatta.
On Saturday, Ngao also claimed the ‘skewed employment of the agency’ was among reasons he quit.
“Out of about 100 staff, only two are Muslims. There is a deliberate effort to bar Muslims from being employed in the agency,” he said.
However, he said he will continue the fight against drug abuse in the country much as he will be operating outside Nacada.
He called on the government to help him realise the dream of establishing a rehabilitation centre in Miritini to treat drug addicts from across the Coast region.
Coast is the most affected region in drug abuse, with an estimated 40,000 addicts of heroine, cocaine, hashish and other hard drugs.
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