Kenya president says he isn't shielding corruption suspects

NAIROBI, Kenya – Kenya's president says he is not shielding corruption suspects and is blaming officials for not dealing with malfeasance in his administration.

President Uhuru Kenyatta was speaking Tuesday at a governance and accountability conference at the State House, his official residence. Last year, he declared corruption a national security threat.

Kenyatta says he has done all he could within the constitution to fight corruption and has given enforcement and investigative agencies all the resources they needed.

"Ladies and gentlemen, what do you want me to do?" he asked the audience, which included heads of enforcement and investigative agencies and civil society.

Kenya ranked 139 out of 168 countries in the Transparency International 2015 index of perception of graft among countries.