Saturday, September 16, 2006

CORRUPTION IN KENYA

Githongo back to breath behind Kibaki’s neck

The corruption vice that has haunted Kibaki's administration might hit a new height if former czar chief Githongo returns to Kenya.

He once served President Kibaki as a loyal anti-corruption czar, but today he is turning out to be the biggest nightmare for his former boss and close friend of his father. The former Permanent Secretary for Ethics, could well define Narc Government’s political future.

Just after the President sat back to watch the ghost of Anglo Leasing, which pushed his Government to the threshold of a political abyss, sink, it now appears it has found its way back.

The ghost, which sprung from the Sh7 billion twin forensic kit and passport controversial projects awarded to a shadowy firm, could soon be straddling the land in the form of his former Ethics and Governance Permanent Secretary John Githongo.

The last time it swept across Kenya, the Anglo Leasing gale swept two ministers closest to the President – David Mwiraria (Finance) and Kiraitu Murungi (Justice) – out of the Cabinet. Several others, including Vice President Moody Awori, under whom the Immigrations department fell, was left hanging onto the post by the skin of the teeth.

With last week’s address by the man who released tapes suggesting Kiraitu tried to slow him down while investigating the scandals, Githongo has refocused attention a matter that had needled Kibaki’s administration for long. And he spoke just when attention was riveted on the raging Orange Democratic Movement of Kenya and the Narc Kenya.

Could corruption be the platform on which next year’s election will be fought? And what is Githongo’s place in the fast changing streak of events? Githongo stirred the embers of the slackening war against corruption, and the debate on whether it’s on course is back on the lips. That is why hot on the heels of Githongo’s speech in the US, KACC director Aaron Ringera mounted the platform to announce, yet again, that some accounts were to be frozen soon. Of course there are those who argued that making the announcement alone, instead of doing it stealthily, gave the owners of the suspect bulging accounts time to transfer the money.

And in the last one—month there have been developments on both the local and international scene, suggesting a tough time ahead for the president on the graft front.

Githongo may, as an individual, prove a much bigger headache for the president than initially anticipated and, in the long run, his anti—corruption crusade in Europe and the US could highly dent KACC’s image.

It came against the backdrop of claims that Ringera’s team has lost the fire to fight graft and is merely pandering to the whims of those in power and reacting only to media reports.

The question critics ask is whether something tangible will come from Ringera this time round given that he has previously talked tough about what Kacc plans for the corrupt, especially when the Government appears to be coming under intense scrutiny over corruption, with no commensurate action.

It is lost to worth noting that soon after the President’s former anti—corruption czar delivered his address in Washington DC, the US President George W Bush talked directly about corruption in Kenya and asked the Government to urgently address the problem.

Even if only by sheer coincidence, the statements by Mr Bush and Mr Githongo in the US came only a few weeks after a similarly scathing criticism of the Government’s war on corruption by the Senator of the State of Illinois, Barrack Obama, whose speech is said to have had the tacit approval of the US Government.

It is also significant that Mr Githongo, who is officially living in the UK, spoke even as the UK High Commissioner to Kenya, Adam Wood, echoed the sentiments of President Bush about the lack of political will to fight corruption in the country. Mr wood questioned why the Government has never prosecuted the tops guns implicated in Anglo Leasing, the biggest scandal yet to rock the administration of President Kibaki.

He said his Government would only take the Government’s anti—corruption war seriously, first, if it showed its commitment to either clear or prosecute the ministers who resigned in the wake of the Anglo Leasing scandal last year and, two, the Kenya anti—Corruption Commission completed investigations into the affair and the Attorney initiated genuine prosecutions.

Instead—and this has not only been the concern of the international community but also that of the local citizens—very little, as Githongo lamented, is being done with regard to Anglo Leasing scandal.

Mr Githongo particularly finds it inexplicable that the Government has showed little interest in pursuing the evidence he adduced last year to various Government agencies, prompting him to place the blame for the stalled anti—corruption war squarely at the door steps of the President and the enormous constitutional powers vested in that office.

And, even though his father was close to Kibaki and by extension he became close to the President himself, Githongo sudden resignation last year and his consistent criticism of the Government’s anti—corruption war around the world is defining the country’s global image and diplomatic relations between the Kibaki administration and its bilateral partners. Kenya’s relations with the US and Europe generally are today being defined by what the foreign nations seem to understand as the Government’s preferred mode of handling the twin issues of corruption and tribalism.

That Kenya’s main international partners are beginning to define their nature of diplomatic relations with the country on the basis of corruption-related issues from the prism of Githongo, and that tribalism as a national challenge has been elevated to diplomatic levels, is evidenced in not just the otherwise telling speeches of George W. Bush and other diplomats but also from the fact that the issues are becoming part of the brief the countries are outlining for the envoys being accredited to Nairobi.

It could have been coincidental, but it was certainly significant, that just days before Obama visited the country last month; the US Government was also posting Mr Michael Ranneberger as its new ambassador to Nairobi. Amid reports that the US, through its new envoy to Nairobi, plans to address corruption and tribalism in Kenya more forcefully, it is certainly not by chance that its intelligence network in Nairobi was keen on collecting information about what Kenyans think about tribalism and corruption. It is understood that part of their findings are what Mr Obama talked about in his address at the University of Nairobi.

This sort of diplomatic movements and reorientation of policy towards Kenya was first triggered partly by public concerns over corruption, but mainly by Githongo’s departure last year. And now that Mr Githongo has indicated he plans to return to Kenya, what he says and does with regard to corruption and tribalism in the next few weeks is likely to have greater political implications for the Kibaki administration.

The timing of his disclosure of plans to return is particularly significant because it just when the Government is grappling with how to handle pressure for constitutional reforms only months to the general election. In his speech in the Washington DC last week, Githongo said the fear of losing General Elections and opposition to constitutional reforms that may reduce presidential powers could have given rise to the Anglo Leasing scandal as Kibaki’s political allies desperately struggled to fend off, even raise money to buy off, the opposition.

His coming back therefore is definitely exciting the local political opposition. It also raises eyebrows in Government circles, a fact that may just heighten concerns over how to handle his security. The biggest headache however remains; what is he now up to and how much does he know that he wants to spill?

Ripoti na Pekiro @ Saturday, September 16, 2006

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