Kenya ex-graft chief 'not afraid'

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Kenya's ex-anti-corruption investigator John Githongo has told the BBC he is no longer afraid for his life and is preparing to visit Kenya next week.

He fled in 2005 after receiving death threats over claims that the government was guilty of "massive looting".

He said that the violence that rocked Kenya after the December elections had dramatically changed the country.

Mr Githongo was appointed to oversee the fight against graft after President Mwai Kibaki came to power in 2002.

"There are bigger perhaps more urgent things that Kenya is grappling with than the issues which initially caused my departure," he told the BBC's Network Africa programme.

"There's a very definite sense that something has changed in the way people relate with one another, especially along ethnic lines."

Post-election violence left some 1,500 people dead and 600,000 homeless around the country.

'Excited'

Members of the new coalition government that took office following the clashes have invited Mr Githongo to return home.

"I've had some re-assurances from top officials in the government," Mr Githongo said.

In 2006, the government guaranteed Mr Githongo's safety and urged him to return home and defend his charges of corruption against top government officials.

Mr Githongo said he was excited to be going back home for the first time in three years.

"I'm going back to Kenya because Kenya is my country and I want to be with my family and my people," he said.

He said this was a private visit to meet his family and re-connect with the people of Kenya.

He will also address a meeting of the Kenya Human Rights Commission in the capital, Nairobi, on Wednesday.