Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta suspended four cabinet secretaries and 16 other senior officials at the weekend to facilitate investigations into allegations of corruption.

The officials had been named in a confidential report produced by the ethics and anti-corruption commission, according to a statement read by presidential spokesman Manoah Esipisu.

“No-one would stand between Kenyans and what is right in the fight against corruption,” Mr Esipisu said, quoting President Kenyatta.

The suspensions have been met with some scepticism, since senior officials suspended for various reasons from previous governments have never been convicted of wrongdoing and some of them were able to return to their positions before investigations were complete.

“The list released is missing many known corrupt officials and, unless some of the suspended ministers are prosecuted and convictions are made, I think he is just playing politics,” commented anti-corruption activist Boniface Mwangi.

“We need the police and the courts to work without presidential sideshows,” Mr Mwangi added.