The recent passing of Amendments by Parliament, supported heavily by members of the opposition, that watered down the powers and scope of work of the Kenya Anti Corruption Commission (KACC) is very unfortunate and a big blow to President Mwai Kibaki's fight against graft.

In a statement, government spokesperson Alfred Mutua, says the passing of the amendments was strongly opposed by the Minister for Justice, the Attorney General and other Government officials.

Mutua added that despite the stand taken by the government, opposition Members of Parliament went ahead and inserted the controversial amendments and voted heavily in favour of their enactment.

Parliament has the prerogative as a sovereign body, to pass legislation.

The Executive respects Parliamentary procedures and decisions but is expressing its displeasure with the current steps taken by legislators.

Mutua said the government would like to make clear several things:

a) President Mwai Kibaki's government is committed to investigation and prosecution of acts of corruption and other Economic Crimes committed before and after this Government took over.

b) The sustained campaign by the opposition to water down the powers of KACC indicates that some of them fear being held accountable for many acts of corruption that are currently being investigated.

c) The Government is committed to bringing to book those who have been named in the Goldenberg inquiry report, Anglo Leasing (which started in 1997) and many other cases of fraud cases under investigation such as the illegal acquisition of the Molasses plant, as detailed in the Ndung'u report.

d) The Government has never and did NOT introduce an Amnesty Clause into the amendments discussed in Parliament as alleged by the today's Standard Newspaper.

e) The Government believes that some members of the opposition are afraid of KACC and its investigations because of their past and ongoing corrupt activities.

f) The Government suspects that some members of the opposition are attempting to insulate themselves from the past and their future acts of theft. They are attempting to create loopholes that will enable them to steal public money because KACC will be toothless to go after them.

g) The Government will not allow a few greedy people to take back Kenya into the abyss of corruption that we have so far successfully fought and are continuing to fight against.

h) The Government will continue pursuing the agenda for strengthening the Kenya Anti Corruption Commission both administratively and legally.

i) In addition to the Economic Crimes Act, the Government will continue to utilize other relevant laws to pursue its anti-corruption agenda.

j) The Government assures all Kenyans that the gains made so far against corruption will be enhanced despite attempts by members of the opposition to block them.