CORRUPTION-KENYA: 72 Hours, and Counting

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Joyce Mulama

NAIROBI, Feb 18 2006 (IPS) - About two thousand people staged a peaceful demonstration in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, Friday demanding that three top officials implicated in corruption resign or be dismissed.

Dressed in white T-shirts and holding banners with messages such as “Hold leaders accountable, End corruption and impunity now,” the crowd shouted and sang as it marched through the streets under the watchful eye of police, who were present in force.

   The demonstration was organised by the Name and Shame Corruption Network (NASCON), a body that groups 76 civil society organisations. NASCON is demanding that Vice President Moody Awori, Attorney General Amos Wako and Francis Muthaura – head of the civil service and cabinet secretary – leave their posts.

   Protesters headed for the offices of the three public servants, in a bid to present them with letters requesting that they step down, but found the premises guarded by armed police.

   At Awori’s office, one of the demonstrators read the letter to the vice president, then presented it to Hannington Wandera, Awori’s personal assistant. Wandera promised to deliver the letter.

   “We are giving this notice Your Excellency, in the exercise of our civic responsibility and obligation under the Constitution of Kenya and relevant stipulations of the Laws of Kenya, which mandate and vests us with the civic duty to prevent crime. We would therefore be grateful if you vacated office within the next 72 hours to facilitate investigations into the Anglo-Leasing corruption claims,” read the letter, in part.

   The letters to Wako and Muthaura were also received by their representatives.

   The claims referred to in Awori’s letter relate to Anglo Leasing and Finance Limited, a fictitious company that was awarded contracts to supply Kenya with a system for producing passports that could not be forged – and to construct police forensic laboratories.

   A payment of about 100 million dollars was made to the firm, but returned soon after the scam came to light in early 2004.

   Awori told parliament that there was nothing irregular about government’s dealings with Anglo Leasing, while Muthaura is accused of misinforming donors about the scandal at a meeting held soon after it broke.

   Wako, in turn, is being targeted by NASCON for his apparent lack of vigilance concerning the contracts for Anglo Leasing – and for failing to bring anyone to book for an earlier corruption scandal termed the Goldenberg affair, which involved the manipulation of an export compensation scheme in the early 1990s by a firm called Goldenberg International.

  In the event that Awori, Muthaura and Wako do not resign within the stipulated time, NASCON intends to mobilise the public for a march to President Mwai Kibaki’s office, where it will demand that he fire all three. Should Kibaki fail to act, a week-long mass action will be called.

    “It is necessary for the public to demonstrate their anger against both present and past cases of corruption, and demand action with the aim of addressing impunity and abuse of power by senior government officials,” said NASCON coordinator Geoffrey Birundu.

   Mounting public pressure over the Anglo Leasing saga has already seen two cabinet ministers resign this month: David Mwiraria, the finance minister, and Kiraitu Murungi – in charge of the energy portfolio.

   The resignations came after leading officials were named in a report on Anglo Leasing compiled by John Githongo, former permanent secretary for ethics and governance. The document was leaked to the media last month.

    Githongo quit his post early in 2005 while on official business in Britain, and is now based at Oxford University. He is said to have been threatened as a result of his efforts to probe graft in Kenya.

   Murungi is also accused of trying to slow Githongo’s investigations into Anglo Leasing. An audio tape recorded by the former permanent secretary on which Murungi is allegedly heard arguing for a less aggressive probe was aired recently by the British Broadcasting Corporation.

   George Saitoti, the education minister, has stepped down in connection with the Goldenberg affair, which took place under former president Daniel arap Moi.

   A commission of inquiry into Goldenberg was appointed in 2003 by Kibaki, who came to power on an anti-graft ticket. It has recommended that Saitoti, who was vice president and finance minister at the time of the Goldenberg affair, be amongst those prosecuted. The erstwhile education minister and 19 other Goldenberg suspects were recently ordered to surrender their firearms and passports as investigations continued.

   Kenya is said to have lost upwards of 600 million dollars in the Goldenberg scam, viewed as the biggest-ever in the East African country.

   “We want to see these people being prosecuted. We want to see arrests, and freezing of assets. That is when we shall surely say that the government is serious about fighting graft,” said Kange’the Mungai, a human rights activist.

   However, authorities maintain they are active in combating corruption.

   “You can see (suspects) being summoned to appear in court. This indicates that we are on the right track. Several others are yet to be summoned,” a senior official in the justice ministry told IPS.

   This was in reference to Chris Murungaru, a former transport minister who appeared in court Friday in connection with graft allegations.