President Uhuru Kenyatta has turned the tables on a consortium which produced a set of papers showing his family has more than Sh3 billion stashed in foreign territory.
In a brief response through State House Spokesperson Kanze Dena on Monday, Uhuru said reports such as that by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalism "will go a long way in enhancing financial transparency".
The consortium had said Uhuru did not respond to enquiries about whether his family wealth was declared to relevant authorities in Kenya.
While saying he would respond comprehensively to the Pandora Papers, upon his return from a State Visit to the Americas, Uhuru said, "These reports will go a long way in enhancing the financial transparency and openness that we require in Kenya and around the globe."
"The movement of illicit funds, proceeds of crime, and corruption thrive in an environment of secrecy and darkness.”
Uhuru also said the Pandora Papers and subsequent follow-up audits will lift the veil of secrecy and darkness for those who can not explain their assets or wealth.
The guardian reported; "In Kenya, the president, Uhuru Kenyatta, has portrayed himself as an enemy of corruption."
In 2018, Uhuru, told the BBC: “Every public servant’s assets must be declared publicly so that people can question and ask: what is legitimate?”
In its leaks, the Pandora Papers revealed that the Kenyatta family has billions stashed in offshore firms.
"The Pandora Papers, however, show no evidence that the Kenyatta family stole or hid state assets in their offshore companies," the BBC reported on its website.
According to the Pandora Papers leaks, the Kenyattas' offshore investments, including a company with stocks and bonds worth $30m (£22m), were discovered among hundreds of thousands of pages of administrative paperwork from the archives of 14 law firms and service providers in Panama and the British Virgin Islands (BVI) and other tax havens.
The secret assets were uncovered by an investigation, published earlier on Sunday, by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), Finance Uncovered, Finance Uncovered, Africa Uncensored and other news organisations.
There have been varied reactions since the Pandora Papers were released on Sunday evening with some accusing Uhuru of abusing his position.
However, the ICIJ has indicated that the documents retrieved through the investigation show that the wealth was accumulated before he became president.