Orwellian Parallels in Ringera's Graft War

[Onyango Oloo]

A Digital Essay from Onyango Oloo in Nairobi

1.0. Literary Musings With a Political Twist

George Orwell’s late forties classic novel

1984 has long been hailed as one of the most enduring and far sighted indictments of totalitarian government. A disillusioned socialist who saw some action defending the Spanish Republic, Eric Blair (Orwell’s real name) was increasingly horrified by the repressive tendencies of Joseph Stalin and his Communist Party colleagues in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics aka the Soviet Union.

1984 describes a future dystopia where the government is omni-potent, omni-present and omniscient. It is this book that launched words like

and “Newspeak”:



To this day the term “Orwellian” refers to this somewhat gothic, macabre and surreal demi-monde where hapless citizens have been convinced by the state that black is white and night is day.

In this world the true heroes and sheroes are those who ferociously defend individual freedoms against an all powerful state determined to transform millions into automatons and ciphers.

Of course this depiction of a presumably Communist society was manna from the Capitalist heavens for the lorry-loads of bourgeois and petit-bourgeois ideologues, apologists and opinion shapers.

To a large extent Orwell’s 1984 and his earlier novella,

Animal Farm proved to be lethal arsenals in the long-drawn propaganda war otherwise known as the Cold War that raged between the NATO family and the Warsaw Pact for decades.

Ironically the VERY SAME WORKS proved to be the ABC primers for a whole generation of socialist leaning anti-imperialist young activists growing up under the yoke of neo-colonial fascism in many so called “Third World” nation states.

Take my particular case for example.

There I was:

A Form Two student in an American missionary run school in humid Mombasa. Keen on literature and current affairs, I was a semi-permanent fixture at the well stocked school library where I made my earliest acquaintance with the likes of O. Henry, Guy de Maupassant, George Elliot, Moliere, John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway, Pearl S. Buck, Tennessee Williams, H.L. Mencken, Jane Austen and many other writers. What I soaked up in that library only served to whet my appetite for the fascinating literary fare ( Harold Pinter, John Osborne, Joseph Heller, Erica Jong, P.G. Wodehouse, Wole Soyinka, Ionesco, Carol Oates, James Joyce,, Doris Lessing etc) available at the British Council library which sat atop the Fontanella Restaurant on Nyerere Avenue across the Catholic Cathedral in downtown Mombasa.

Let me curtail my reveries before they gallop away with the topic at hand.

Like I said, there I was a Form Two student at the

Mombasa Baptist High School deeply immersed in Eurocentric Literature and loving every minute of it. In Form One, our twenty-something teacher Mr. Carter had walked us through Steinbeck’s The Pearl where we had accosted Juana and Coyotito; later my early stirrings for social justice would be propelled by the dramatic court-room scene in To Kill a Mocking Bird.

But in Form Two George Orwell RULED OK, on the strength of his slim volume, Animal Farm with its immortal credo: “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”

I am very glad that our teacher- I believe it was another American we called Mr. Smith- did not attempt to force-feed us with any heavy dose of anti-communist gruel or drivel. Instead he left us to discover our own meanings and interpretations of the text. Remember we were studying the text not too long after Jomo Kenyatta had ordered the gangland torture and execution of his would be Presidential rival J.M. Kariuki. The Kenya of the mid-seventies was both a repressed society as well as a nation of seething underground indignation. In public no one dared to talk publicly about the creeping fascism of the iron-fisted Mzee, growing increasingly paranoid and intolerant in his dotage; privately his one party regime was denounced and lampooned all the way from Nyeri Town to Moyale.

For a young Kenyan like me growing in political awareness against the back-drop of an arrogant, blood-soaked and corrupt regime, it was not that difficult to see parallels between the hilarious betrayal of the animals' aspirations by the ruling pigs of Animal Farm and Kenyatta’s sellout of the Mau Mau and the Kenyan people. It was thus that an explicitly anti-communist tract helped to propel the writer of these lines to embrace the tenets of Marxism-Leninism by the time I was twenty years old.

Much much later, when I read 1984 again I saw, not the venal and menacing Soviet state apparatus but the everyday state heavy handed presence in Kenya and many repressed societies. As I grew older, both chronologically and ideologically, I saw 1984 as an even worse indictment of US led imperialism- especially when I had dug up some of the archives from Sen. Joe McCarthy’s Un-American witch-hunts and show trials designed to flush out “communists” and their “sympathizers.”

Was there a bigger brother than Uncle Sam with its litany of domestic spying against its own citizens and its unbroken history of gunboat diplomacy targeting scores of banana republics from Guatemala and Haiti to Congo and the Philippines?

Was there a greater confirmation of Orwellian New Speak double speak than phrases like “ plausible deniability” “collateral damage” “friendly fire” and so on?

Was there a more formidable totalitarian machine than the American Empire?

Once again, an anti-communist tract had bolstered my socialist and anti-imperialist convictions.

CONTINUED...

[Onyango Oloo]

2.0. Orwellian Gyrations in the Kibaki II Era:

I have argued elsewhere that the present ruling clique is a junta that came to power through a peaceful and bloodless civilian coup. Kibaki came to power aboard the NARC juggernaut comprising NAK and her LDP coalition partner. This coalition has recently been torn asunder with the usurpation of power by the Bananiacs who are anxious to defend what they see as a tribal heir loom. It is in this context that I refer to the present Kenyan regime as Kibaki II because the cabinet that obtains in the country today is strictly speaking illegal since a faction of the NARC coalition has taken upon itself to dissolve the coalition and invite strangers and even trenchant opponents of NARC to comprise a nebulous government of national disunity.

Of late, I have been observing with genuine alarm, the make-shift, make-it-up-as-we-go-along bumbling policies which have left me really baffled how a faction like NAK which has so many brainiacs within its ranks demonstrates its political clueless ness so consistently. I have already commented on the suicidal selection of a cabinet from hell stacked with fellow tribes-people, relatives, cronies and golf partners; yesterday I shared my thoughts on the outburst of unprovoked vendettas launched against apolitical technocrats in the public service.

Today I want to take a closer peek at Ringera’s sudden desire to earn his two point something million shilling monthly salary.

Like everybody else, I was more than gruntled to see the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission take up the cudgels against the highly bungled, compromised and corrupt police recruitment exercise; recent media reports of a zealous anti-graft campaign have been gratifying.

But I am beginning to strongly suspect that this latest wave of state engineered moral outrage against ufisadi is riddled with what the Waswahili call unafiki na usabasi terms whose English meanings will be readily apparent if you stick with this essay.

From where I sit, the most glaring howler and red flag in the whole resurgence of anti-corruption blitzkrieg is the fact that Kibaki II has as of today not given any indication whether any action at all will ever be effected on the two most scandalous manifestations of grand graft: the Goldenberg Scandal and the Anglo-Leasing Fiasco. The former fingered insiders of the KANU ancien regime like Ex-Rais Mtukufu Daniel arap Moi and his long-serving and loyal deputy Prof. George Kinuthia Saitoti and the NAK friendly former Energy minister Nicholas Kipyator Biwott. The Anglo-Leasing Fiasco blew the whistle, according to what has been repeated ad nauseam in the public domain, on people close to Kibaki like former waziri Chris Murungaru, current finance minister Daudi Mwiraria, at least one of the Presidential offspring and some young corporate thugs linked to the Kenyan political establishment-past and present.

As long as Kibaki II coddles the alleged culprits in these two mega-scandals, its ongoing skirmishes against relatively minor cases of grand graft will remain shorn of any cloak of integrity and credibility.

There is no plausible reason why the heavyweight grand corruption champions from Goldenberg and Anglo Leasing should not be trying out those spiffy and fabulous striped kung’uru tunics reserved for residents of the Kamiti Maximum Luxury Motel.

In fact, as long as these well-connected fat cats drive around freely in their dark tinted limousines, some of us will see Ringera’s shenanigans as so many red herrings flung on the road to kill the scent leading the real anti-corruption blood hounds to the pin stripped unfleeing fugitives from the vice squads.


CONTINUED....

[Onyango Oloo]

3.0. Cynical Reversals: The Strange Case of Mheshimiwa Naftali Mogere


Let me reproduce a passage from the main headline in today’s (Thursday, December 22, 2005) Standard:

Muthaura links Mogere sacking to graft probe:

Former National Social Security Fund Managing Trustee Naftali Mogere was sacked after investigations by the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission, the Head of the Civil Service, Francis Muthaura, told two cabinet ministers on Tuesday. Muthaura also told the ministers, who were trying to intercede for Mogere, that he could be prosecuted soon. News of the previously unknown investigations on Mogere broke even as Labour minister Newton Kulundu said the sacking was final. He also told the protesting COTU and FKE that they could seek redress in the courts if they so wished…

Can you believe these guys?

What is this entire CROCK?

Are these the very same banditos who absolutely refused to lift a finger against Dr. Chris Murungaru when the former Transport minister was mired in so many controversies least of which was the embarrassing travel ban to the UK and other Western capitals of capital?

Don’t we all remember our befuddled, pumbavu disdaining head of state snorting scornfully as he wondered cynically whose mbuzi one of his ministers had gobbled?

If my memory holds up, I heard over and over and over and over again, the apologists of the regime declaim that unless concrete evidence could be adduced, no action would be taken against any high profile corruption tainted figures.

Who has forgotten how the notorious Mrs. Margaret Gachara, yes she of the 26 million monthly salary swindled tons of money meant for Kenyans living with HIV/AIDS only to get a generous and very premature Presidential pardon a mere three months after the courageous Chief Magistrate Muchelule had the presence of mind to fling the corpulent corrupt lady to Lang’ata Women’s Prison?

What happened to the presumption of innocence?

What happened to due process?

What happened to fair trials?

What happened to international labour conventions protecting employees from arbitrary and politically motivated pink slips?

Since when was Mr. Francis Muthaura appointed a Public Prosecutor and Judge all rolled into one?

Is it not dumbfounding to contemplate the spectre of the arrogant Newton Kulundu acting as overlord of the Labour ministry-the one government department where the watchwords ought to be humility, open dialogue, strict adherence to process, arbitration and negotiation? Is this the kind of person Kibaki wants to keep in charge when Kenya eventually erupts with wave after wave of industrial unrest?

How credible is the threadbare government version of the Mogere sacking a mere twenty four hours after the daily newspapers revealed that Mogere’s neck was on the guillotine the moment he declined an invitation from two cabinet ministers (apparently one of them is the very same Kulundu) to bend the rules to favour a shady cowboy contractor who had already over-charged on a previous contract by KShs. 3 billion?

Is this the same man who President Kibaki publicly cited for his impeccable service to the nation just a week or so ago?


Naftali Mogere’s rebuttal of Muthaura and Kulundu’s allegations is very telling, and to my mind, way more persuasive:

Asked about the KACC reports yesterday, Mogere dismissed them as “mere excuses’ and challenged the Government to come out clean. He said like in any other anti-graft investigation, those implicated should be first given an opportunity to give their side of the story before the final report is compiled. He wondered why some “obvious procedures” were ignored, among them the tabling of any findings of graft before the NSSF board of management. “I have never been grilled or even asked a single question by the KACC in relation to my services at NSSF. All financial undertakings at NSSF since I took over remained a collective responsibility of the entire board. There is no way I would have taken decisions on my own.” He said he was ready to defend himself in a court of law.” I know that I am clean and God will bear me witness. I am a clean man waiting to be told why I was sacked,” he said.

But it gets worse. The very Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission cited by the haughty and sinister Muthaura apparently is not aware that Naftali Mogere was under any kind of investigation! Can you imagine that?

Here is a snippet from the same Standard report:

…in what could point at the level of secrecy and decision making accorded to the probe that Muthaura referred to, even KACC spokesman Nicholas Simani said he was not aware of a report by his commission on Mogere. He conceded he was only aware that NSSF had conducted an internal audit. “As far as I am concerned, we have not received any report on Mogere and if there is any we shall be happy to handle it effectively, he added.

Folks, you know what I think?

I think that Francis Muthaura is lying through his teeth regarding the true reasons behind the sacking of Naftali Mogere. I think that Newton Kulundu is also being very economical with the truth.

One the other hand I tend to believe Naftali Mogere’s protestations of innocence. I also find the reports in yesterday’s Nation, Standard, People and Kenya Times to be very credible. Given their cut-throat rivalry in their desperate daily quest for readers’ eye-balls, one is struck with their unanimous investigative exposes of the Cowboy Contractor (some say it is Mugoya Construction and Engineering Ltd) being the shady outfit that had at least two cabinet ministers going to bat for it.

According the Bankelele blog, the company was on the brink of winding up earlier this year.

What is more interesting (that is IF and it is a very BIG IF Mugoya is the construction company in question) is that one of the main principals in Mugoya is none other than Nicholas Biwott of all people. The major shareholder is Ugandan billionaire James Isabiria Mugoya.

The story below was filed in the UGANDA Monitor on September 28, 2004:

CID compiles list of Mugoya’s assets - Sept 28, 2004

* By Izama Angelo & Zurah Nakabugo - The Monitor

KAMPALA - Police have said they are looking for the assets of Mugoya Construction Ltd. The move follows a decision by the government to take action against top National Social Security Fund (NSSF) officials involved in the Nsimbe Estates real estate venture. Security officials said it was fraudulent and intended to fleece workers of their money.

President Yoweri Museveni has reportedly said the government would seize the assets of Mugoya Construction. The NSSF MD Mr Leonard Mpuuma and the entire board, were last week locked out of their offices to allow investigations. The Fund has since been transferred from the Gender and Labour Ministry to that of Finance.

Museveni is demanding a refund of over Shs8.2b Mugoya allegedly withdrew from a Stanbic Branch account of the joint venture company, the construction firm entered into with NSSF. Yesterday Police spokesman, Mr Assuman Mugenyi, said the police would compile a report on the company’s dealings for the DPP.

“Police can impound any property as an exhibit while investigating. After the presentation of exhibits, court decides on the manner how the exhibit could be disposed as directed by the law,” he said. Yesterday, Teddy Ssezi-Cheeye, the Director of Economic Affairs at ISO, who raised the initial doubts of the NSSF/Mugoya deal, said a wider investigation of NSSF was underway and that a full report on the fund would be submitted to the President.


About two weeks later, on 16th of September 2004 to be exact, the following item was published on the web site of the Ugandan parliament:

News Details

Parliament votes to set up select committee to probe NSSF - Thursday, 16 September 2004

Parliament has adopted a motion to set up a select committee to investigate allegations of misconduct in the National Social Security Fund after it agreed to a joint housing estate venture with Mugoya Construction Company. Hon. Aggrey Awori, MP Samia Bugwe North, who moved the motion Wednesday, said the joint venture to be called Nsimbe Estate Housing Project is worth Shs 459b. MPs said the select committee should consider which of the Ministries of Gender and Finance is best suited to house the NSSF. This follows a Presidential directive to the Prime Minister to transfer the NSSF from the Ministry of Gender to that of Finance. MPs said the committee, whose membership is yet to be set up, should also probe allegations of mismanagement of funds by the NSSF. In his motion Hon. Awori asked government to immediately stop the Shs 459b joint venture between NSSF and Mugoya Construction. The Minister of Gender, Labour and Social Development under which NSSF currently falls agreed with the select committee to investigate the allegations and said she would present a statement to the House on Tuesday. The Prime Minister Prof. Apolo Nsibambi also supported the idea of setting up the select committee to probe the affairs of NSSF but said its location is not a matter of Parliament but an Executive function. He also said thathe had complied with the President’s directive, which will take effect on Sept. 21, 2004.


But that is NOT all. There IS an alleged connection between Mugoya Construction and the Anglo-Leasing scandal. Here is an article published in the East African Standard exactly ONE YEAR AGO, to be precise on December 23, 2004:

Man who holds key to Anglo Leasing

Standard Team

Merlyn Kettering
Anti-graft police are keen to interview American citizen Dr Merlyn Kettering in connection with a string of scandals dating as far back as the 1980s.

Anti-graft czars would also like to talk to Kettering in connection with the Sh7 billion Anglo Leasing scandal. Senior anti-corruption officials told The Standard Kettering was still being sought because he was of "considerable interest" to the investigation, but would not say whether he was suspected of being in the country.

Kettering was a consultant for the Ministry of Finance, through a company called Thunderbird and Associates Inc of Virginia. However, a lot of questions remain unanswered about the projects on which he worked and there are fears that taxpayers lost millions of shillings in a lot of them.

For example, he was the consultant in the Sh2.7 billion Anglo Leasing Finance Company’s passport scandal and the Sh4.2 billion forensic kit project.

In June, it was revealed that he was also the consultant in a scandalous multi-million computerisation project at the Kenya Airports Authority.

Kettering was the lead consultant in the project abruptly stopped by KAA Managing Director George Muhoho mid-last year because even after Sh256 million had been paid out, all but one of the four phases were incomplete.

Kettering was contracted by KAA through Dyntech International, a company based in Liverpool, UK.

"The new management felt it was pouring money into a bottomless pit, the project continued to guzzle a lot of money and it became unrealistic to pursue it," revealed a source at KAA.

To date, the prospect of having all the operations at Kenya’s airports linked through a state-of-the-art computerisation programme is yet to come to fruition.

Last year, Muhoho promised investigations into the matter, whose outcome is yet to be made public.

Kettering has deep roots at the ministry of Finance, where he was a consultant through Thunder & Associates, Inc of Alexandria, Virginia.

His address in the KAA contractual agreements was shown as Dyntech International, Fullwood Park, Liverpool. The physical address on the records is LIT 5 A, UK.

According to a source privy to the contract, Kettering’s firm was working with Kamson International, the company also linked to the passport scandal and the forensic laboratory project for the CID.

In the recently uncovered passport scam, a senior Office of the President bureaucrat, Mr J F A Agili was the link person with Kettering.

When the government engaged Anglo Leasing in the laboratory project, the immediate former PS in charge of Provincial Administration and National Security, Mr Zakayo Cheruiyot, signed the contract on behalf of the government.

Mrs Lucia Katnaolunk signed on behalf of Forensics Laboratory Limited, a consulting firm, while former Treasury PS Mwaghazi Mwachofi signed for the Finance and Colin Flynn for Anglo Leasing.

Kettering was Anglo Leasing’s consultant in the deal. He at one time sought a meeting with the Chief Architect Philip Sika to review the preliminary design and drawings prepared for the building that would house the forensics laboratories and associated offices.

He asked that authority be given for access and turnover of the site so their work could begin, starting with survey and soil testing.

"By a copy of this letter, we notify the Office of the President and request the assignment of Government technical staff to the project so works can proceed in a timely manner," he said in a letter dated March 31, 2003.

Since no one in government admits to dealing with Anglo Leasing, Kettering would be in a position to provide investigators invaluable information about the scandals and how they were approved and by whom.

Kettering was reported to have left the country in June for the US to attend the annual conference of the Church of the Brethren, for which he is a development advisor.

In a statement in June, the church’s General Board said:

"Dr. Merlyn Kettering is a respected member of the Church of the Brethren General Board’s team working with the New Sudan Council of Churches (NSCC). As a part-time strategic consultant and advisor, he has made important contributions to the ministry with NSCC and the people of southern Sudan.

"The General Board is aware that Dr. Kettering works as a consultant for other clients.

"Dr. Kettering was invited to come to the Church of the Brethren Annual Conference in the United States in early July to report about the situation in Sudan and to be recognized for distinguished service. This invitation had been made nearly a year ago."

Kettering attended the conference in July and was feted, even as investigators were seeking ways to have him record a police statement.

It is not clear whether the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission sought the assistance of the US embassy in its efforts to interview Kettering.

There are fresh allegations that Kettering may have visited Kenya in October, claims which could not, however, be independently confirmed.

The reports said that the consultant spent some time this year at farm house near Athi River, about 30 kilometres from the City Centre.

However, a check at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport Immigration desk shows no record of any Dr Merlyn Kettering traveling in or out of the country this year at all.

The last entry of any Dr Merlyn Kettering entering Kenya was in December 2003. At the time he was listed as a missionary of the Brethren Church. His mission to Kenya was evangelisation and charity work.

Sources at the JKIA Immigration desk said: "If it is true that the man you are referring to passed through this airport this year, then he must have used different names and forged papers."

Kettering is reported to have stayed at the Athi River farm, Primarosa Flowers, which is owned by the Kamani family.

The Kamanis are associated with Kamsons International, the firm which supplied the police force with the Mahindra jeep and for which Kettering was a consultant.

The Kamanis featured prominently in the Anglo-Leasing investigations with one of them, Deepak Kamani, recording a statement with the KACC.

Sources told The Standard that immediately the scandal broke in April, Deepak, his elder brother, Rashmi, and their father, Chamanlal, virtually relocated to the Athi River farm house as the media camped outside their stately house in the leafy Spring-Valley suburb in Nairobi. There was even speculation they may have left the country.

The sources claimed that at the time the Anglo-Leasing deals were signed late last year and early this year, frequent visitors at the Athi River farm were a powerful permanent secretary and a Nairobi businessman, who was also interviewed by KACC.

Others were a sister of the Kamanis, Ms Sudha Ruparelia and a Mr Collin Flynn.

Flynn is the man who signed the Sh7 billion deals on behalf of Anglo-Leasing Finance Limited.

Significantly, Flynn works as an accountant with Saagar Associates, which is owned by Sudha. The property company is located at Alpha House in Liverpool, United Kingdom, which is the same address used by the so called Anglo-Leasing and Finance company. Sources at the farm said the Kamanis frequently entertained their friends at the farm. "They are normally very free here with their visitors. I would not even say it is a hideout as they drive in and out in broad daylight. The Kamanis are normally very free when here."

However, the sources said only senior managers are allowed to enter the actual area where the Kamanis live and entertain their friends.

The secluded area is located near the main gate and has two blocks consisting of a detached "safe house" and a three-in-one block of maisonnetes for two of the Kamani sons and a guest wing.

Behind the houses is a stable, where horses are kept and bred.

The "safe house" was first built by the previous owners of the flower farm, Mugoya Construction Company.

When the Kamanis acquired the farm in December 2002, they spent Sh8 million to renovate the house, discloses a source at the farm. "They converted the place into a virtual bunker with underground safes and security monitors," adds the source.

Late last year the powerful PS is said to have sold a portion of his farm to the Kamanis to extend their flower-growing ventures. The PS’s 60-hectare farm is located at OlJororok, near Nyahururu town. The Kamanis bought 13 hectares from him at Sh5 million, according to sources.

The Kamanis are busy constructing a greenhouse at the new property and are also said to be looking for more land in the area, with the help of a former MP.

The circumstances behind the change of ownership of the Athi River flower farm are as controversial as the owners.

The Stoni Athi flower farm was used as security to borrow Sh800 million from the Kenya Commercial Bank in 1997. The money was jointly borrowed by Mugoya subsidiaries — the Stoni Athi flower farm, Mugoya Construction Company and Kingorani Investments

The debt was not repaid and because of interest it ballooned to Sh7 billion by December 2002 when KCB sold the farm to the Kamanis to recover its money. The bank’s receivers, Price WaterhouseCoopers, were responsible for the sale.

A source at Price Waterhouse-Coopers confirmed that it is actually Kettering with whom they negotiated the sale of the Stoni Athi farm to the Kamanis.

Said the source: "There was nothing underhand about the deal. We dealt with Kettering as the representative consultant of the buyer. Whatever else he did outside our deal would simply not be of concern to us."

Significantly, just before the farm was sold, Mugoya Construction had placed a Sh1.9 billion claim on the government as payment for alleged refurbishment of the Treasury building.

However, with Kanu out of power, Treasury flatly refused to pay, with then Finance PS Joseph Kinyua saying no such work had been done.

At the time, Mugoya’s main shareholder, Ugandan billionaire James Isabiria Mugoya, had fallen out with his powerful friends in the former Kanu government.

Another frequent visitor at the Athi River "safe-house" last year, say workers at the farm, is a retired top policeman. "The top policeman would be driven here dressed in civilian clothes mostly on Sundays and would stay until very late," recalls sources at the farm.

Sources also recall a night early last year when a Mombasa-bound trailer broke down at the Athi-River weighbridge station, blocking the busy Mombasa highway for hours. The top policeman is said to have ordered a police helicopter to patrol over the Primarosa Farm until the road was cleared and the Kamanis were safely back in Nairobi. Such, according to the sources, is the power of the Kamanis.

Ntonyiri MP Maoka Maore of Kanu first exposed the Anglo-Leasing scandal in Parliament in April.

In the scam, a scheme in which the Government was to spend Sh936 million to upgrade it’s passport-issuing system was hijacked by Anglo-Leasing agents and the tax-payers committed to pay three times as much – Sh2.7 billion.

Following a public outcry at the infamy, the Auditor-General was instructed to carry out an immediate special audit of the project. A report of the audit released on May 13 this year termed the Anglo-Leasing deal as "highly irregular".

By the way, according to East African Procurement News the legal disputes between Mugoya and NSSF did not start yesterday.

It gets curiouser and curiouser as Alice in Wonderland liked to say.

It would appear as if the Kibaki-NAK regime got rid of Mogere because he was resisting pressures from a company very closely associated with the 2002 Uhuru-KANU campaign.

Incredible.

Just stupefying I kid you not.

One must add the caveat that back then Biwott and Uhuru were on the same side, unlike now.

****************


I call on President Mwai Kibaki to immediately reinstate Mr. Naftali Mogere to his rightful job as the Managing Trustee of the Kenya National Social Security Fund. And since he has been on a sacking mood of late, I call on Hon. Kibaki to do the honourable thing and give Herr Muthaura and Monsieur Kulundu the gunia invoking the public interest.

As for Aaron Ringera and his Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission, perhaps it is high time you sank your teeth even further into the cabinet and possible State House connections to the still swirling Anglo-Leasing Scandal.

Onyango Oloo
Nairobi

[aeichener]

Well, the KACC - being lavishly funded, and havening been endowed with extensive powers, as should be - has the potential to become a Comité de salut public. Politicians will try to use the Commission to their personal benefit; and on the other hand, the Commission itself will carefully use its cases and their public presentation to gain weight and influence. The decision which case to investigate and prosecute, and in which sector, is a highly political one; but "political" not in the Kenyan English sense of "vile politicking", but "political" as in "referring to the polis". For the anti-corruption activities to succeed, the public impact and perception of KACC activities is every bit as important as actual court sentences.

My take is that the next, mmhmm, objects of the KACC' tender ministrations should as well be some NGOs, and maybe one or two "token" foreign companies (such as to demonstrate independence and to placate those concerns which have pointed out that Kenyans are not only corrupt, but are _being_ corrupted, sometimes by the same donor nations who otherwise chastise the government for not waging the anti-graft war effectively enough.)

PS: I wish so much they would grill AMREF. These fat cats would be a deserving target for a thorough audit. I have read their financial report. Even the publicized version *stinks*.

Alexander

[Onyango Oloo]

Alex:

Succint points you raise.

I want to re-read your posting on First Peoples and First Colonialists before venturing a comment.

oo
nbi

[Onyango Oloo]

www.timesnews.co.ke/23dec05/nwsstory/news4.html


Councillors flay govt for sacking NSSF boss

By a Kenya Times Correspondent

FORTY six councillors from Kisii yesterday condemned the sacking of Naftali Mogere as the managing trustee of the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) terming it a political scheme aimed at finishing individuals from Gusii serving in President Kibaki’s Government.

The civic leaders urged all MPs from the Kisii community serving in the Cabinet to tender their resignations as a sign of protest.

The councillors also alleged a plot by some powerful individuals in government who they said were plotting a scheme to finish Kisiis working in government and effectively isolate the community from participating in national issues.

They accused President Mwai Kibaki of allowing certain powerful forces within his government to make unpopular decisions which had led to the disintegration of the Narc coalition.

Addressing the Press in Kisii after a consultative meeting, the civic leaders, led by Councillor Charles Otoigo of Gucha claimed that the President, after reaching out on Kisii MPs for political support had allowed individuals from Mt. Kenya to prey on Abagusii individuals working in his government.

The civic leaders claimed that the sacking of Mogere was a deliberate scheme aimed at creating space for some politicians who had blackmailed the President for more appointments in the civil service if he expected support from them.

“We are sending a loud and clear message to President Kibaki that Abagusii are not taking lightly the sacking of Kisiis working in government. These sackings started in earnest with Jeremiah Matagaro as PS for Constitutional Affairs, then it came to James Ongwae and Zachary Ogongo,” they lamented.

They called on Cabinet Ministers Simeon Nyachae (Roads and Public Works) and Henry Obwocha (Planning) and assistant Minister Joel Onyancha to walk out of government unless the President gives a guarantee that Kisiis were not targeted for elimination from the civil service.

They charged that the President had allowed the sacking of some individuals in order to appease the political demands by some leaders from certain areas.

The councillors further challenged Head of Civil Service, Francis Muthaura to table any evidence of impropriety on Mogere, so that the law can take its course.

They warned Kisii leaders who serve in the present government in whatever capacity to either resign or be forced out of Parliament come the next elections for failing to defend their kin who are being hounded out of the civil service.

They wondered why the alleged graft findings on Mogere by the Kenya Anti Corruption Committee had not been tabled to the President before he awarded Mogere with the decoration of Moran of Burning Spear (MBS).

[Onyango Oloo]

Posted by: kip Yesterday, 10:15 PM

OO
Great Job. You tie of history and it's parallels with the issue of concern is always remarkable, this has been missing on your digitals lately.

[Onyango Oloo]

to OO

From: Jukwaa faithful - Thu, Dec 22, 3:59 PM

kenya.rcbowen.com/talk/index.cgi?action=Article&article=51203&start=1&limit=50

Thank you very much once again for this very loaded exposé that says things as they are. No calling "pakio kijiko kubwa"!

Admittedly, these "independent" online essays invest one with liberties and possibilities that writing for press where the editor worries about Mtukufu retaliating on the other hand curtail. So is it that such home truths are only to be read online, in blogs. Can such vehement, vitriolic writings, however concise and true they be find their way into mainstream press, I dream of that day.

Aside: I'd think a "bloodless civilian coup" is one more "Orwellian newspeak" oxymoron.

Siku kuu njema yenye mafanikio.

[Onyango Oloo]

Mogere: End this circus


Publication Date: 12/23/2005

Events unfolding at the National Social Security Fund since the sacking of managing trustee Naftali Mogere are as startling as they are worrying.

For a start, Mr Mogere had been feted just a week ago by the President and received a State commendation for doing a good job at a parastatal that has been dogged by controversy throughout the last decade.

Secondly, his contract had just been renewed a few weeks ago, an indication that the Government had been pleased with his stewardship.

But now, Labour minister Newton Kulundu, who had renewed Mr Mogere's contract, is changing his tune. He is imputing that Mr Mogere was sacked for some underhand dealings and has dared is daring anybody with an axe to grind defending the besiege former parastatal chief or his sympathisers to go to court to challenge the decision.

For a good measure, the minister says the Government has a damaging dossier on the man, which could be released spilt out if the push comes to the shove.

But this is just a side-show. The Government needs to clearly tell the public the reasons for sacking Mr Mogere. At any rate, the only statement made during the sack when the announcement was made was that the decision was in the public interest. Which is that public interest that is being protected?

Our remit is not to get into the details about Mr Mogere's stewardship of the NSSF. Our concern is the way the Government is treating its top officials.

A number of permanent secretaries were dropped not long before, the other day, some career civil servants who had not reached the retirement age. Others were former private sector captains, who had been fished out to join the government.

Where does the line about job security start and end? What signal is the Government sending out? Who will be willing to join the government service when there is no job security?

As President Kibaki promised during his inauguration, this government should do things differently. If people are to be sacked, as happens everywhere, we must be told why. there must small courtesies of explaining reasons for such decisions.

The emerging trend, where senior public officers are sacked whimsically, is sending a very negative signal about the public service.

[Onyango Oloo]

politicalmaniac
post Yesterday, 11:20 AM
Post #3


Mwananchi
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Group: Wananchi
Posts: 86
Joined: 28-January 04
Member No.: 294
Your Location: nairobi,kenya



The raw political undertones of this sacking is what i am interested in.

Its not doing Nyachae any favors and as you can see the rather verbose fellow is as mum as a nun in meditation

[Onyango Oloo]

Team probes NSSF deal to raise Sh14b

Story by SUNDAY NATION Team
Publication Date: 12/25/2005

The National Social Security Fund is at the centre of an intense investigation targeting financial dealings through which the pension giant expects to raise Sh14 billion.

Anti-corruption detectives are looking into suspected fraud in an elaborate investment and divestiture programme which has raised Sh350 million in three months from the sale of NSSF shares alone.

The investment and divestiture programme was approved by the board of trustees to bridge a deficit of Sh14 billion incurred through past losses.

The Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission confirmed this week that its officers were looking into financial dealings undertaken during the tenure of Managing Trustee Naftali Mogere, who was sacked last week.

His removal came at the height of a tussle between the NSSF and Mugoya Construction Company over a Sh13.5 billion housing estate in Embakasi, Nairobi.

The project, which involved the construction of 4,700 housing units, snowballed into a major dispute, with the NSSF alleging losses in excess of Sh3 billion.

The matter is now before an arbitration tribunal chaired by retired Court of Appeal Judge Akilano Akiwumi, where both organisations are claiming billions of shillings from each other.

Once completed, the NSSF hopes to fully plug the deficit by raising Sh10 billion through the sale of the Embakasi housing units at about Sh3 million each.

In an interview with the Sunday Nation, Mr Mogere strongly defended his record and dismissed speculation of irregular dealings as being behind his sudden dismissal, hardly a week after being honoured with a medal by President Kibaki.

He said that while he did not want to speculate on the reasons for his sacking, it was possible some people were not happy with the raft of reforms he implemented in his three years as head of the pension fund.

He spoke extensively on NSSF's divestiture involving billions of shillings which some observers indicated could have been the source of problems for Mr Mogere.

Senior anti-corruption commission officers intensified their investigations at the NSSF after the managing trustee's exit on December 19, gathering information on his financial management over the 40 months he was at the helm.

Commission spokesman Nicholas Simani said Mr Mogere was aware that the anti-graft body had launched investigations long before he was sacked.

But by yesterday, Mr Mogere had neither been summoned by the investigators nor had he recorded a statement.

The NSSF engaged five brokers to manage its divestiture programme. They are Dyer & Blair, Suntra Stocks, Apex, Standard Stocks and Discount Securities.

Mr Mogere denied that the Government had questioned the integrity of the divestiture, explaining that the five firms were paid a uniform commission of 1.26 per cent, way below the two per cent ceiling approved by the Capital Markets Authority.

He said the Fund insisted on the shares attracting the prevailing prices on the Nairobi Stock Exchange and that proceeds of the sale were all channelled to a central depository kitty at the Kenya Commercial Bank.

"All the transactions went on very well," he told the Sunday Nation last Thursday, denying there had been any shady dealings in the three-month process.

The Fund raised Sh312 million through the sale of Kenya Power and Lighting Company shares and those Kenya Breweries yielded Sh18 million.

The upshot is that the Government has suddenly found itself a minority shareholder in the KPLC, its stake having declined from 52 per cent to 48 per cent. In all, Sh350 million has been raised since last October from the sale of shares.

The Fund's plan is to raise Sh5 billion every year for three years from stocks. At present, the value of its total shares is estimated at Sh28 billion, from an investment of Sh6 billion.

Another share sale at BAT was in the offing before Mr Mogere's exit. The Fund also plans to sell shares in Housing Finance, National Bank of Kenya and Sameer Investments.

Mr Mogere's dismissal also followed claims of nepotism and corruption at the NSSF.

Inquiries indicated that, contrary to claims in the media, the referendum-related Orange and Banana politics, in which Mr Mogere was alleged to be a supporter of the former, had nothing to do with his exit.

The saga surrounding the Fund's investment and divestiture picked momentum three months.

The deficit in the Fund's balance sheet is attributed to losses incurred through banks which collapsed and bad investment decisions. Mr Mogere said the money lost through such institutions, in addition to more than Sh3 billion lost through the controversial Nyayo Housing project in Embakasi, had contributed to the huge deficit, which the board undertook to wipe out as part of its performance contract.

The NSSF board, which comprises representatives from the Government, Cotu and the Federation of Kenya Employers, is said to have approved the divestiture as part of a two-step formula to raise money.

An NSSF board member, Mr Francis Atwoli, who is also the Cotu boss, confirmed the board had approved the divestiture and was not aware of any irregularities.

"The board has decided not to make further statements on this matter until possibly in the new year," Mr Atwoli said by tephone from Mauritius on Thursday.

Prior to the 1992 and 1997 General Elections, the NSSF had almost been milked dry by functionaries out to raise money for Kanu.

In fact, some crooks sold large chunks of land to the NSSF, which were eventually found to be of little value.

Mr Mogere admits the Fund acquired land at much more than it was worth in the 1990s. A plot the Fund bought for more than Sh900 million in mid-1990s, was found to be worth Sh500 million on re-valuation.

"The Public Investments Committee even recommended recovery of the difference," Mr Mogere said on Friday.

The post of managing trustee at NSSF has been controversial in the last decade. Some of the managing trustees who served the shortest stints include Mr Ben Mtweta and Mr Jos Konzolo.

Mr Mtweta was hounded out of office amid accusations of investing Sh256 million in the defunct Euro Bank without the board's approval.

Mr Konzolo, on the other hand, left after Cotu and the FKE demanded to have a say in appointing the managing trustee.

Mr Mogere was appointed in September, 2002.

The Fund was shielded from looting in the run-up to the 2002 General Election. But soon after the elections, auditors released a d**ning report in which they said the organisation was on the verge of collapse.

They said the NSSF was unable to pay retirees and most of its money was tied up in land and property which were not its core business.

But Mr Mogere denied the report, saying the NSSF held assets worth more than Sh50 billion and could not be described as insolvent. He was supported by Mr Atwoli.

However, corruption allegations cropped up again, this time over legal services rendered to the Fund. The NSSF management had engaged the services of lawyers who had previously sued the institution, amid claims that the board had not been consulted in picking the law firms.

The next query was in relation to the Monrovia Building project located between Monrovia and Mokhtar Daddah streets in Nairobi. While the building was expected to rise to at least 25 storeys, it never went beyond the fourth floor but NSSF still paid Sh1.5 billion, despite an internal audit which recommended that only Sh145.271 million be paid out, over and above the Sh656.965 million which had already been paid.

Mr Mogere’s defence of the expenditure was that it was going to fetch the Fund Sh100 million annually in rent from the Napuerile swear wordtt supermarket chain. Mr Mogere told the Sunday Nation last Friday that Monrovia Building was earning NSSF Sh9 million a month.

He listed other achievements during his tenure as the reclamation of its land at Nairobi's Balozi estate, which it then sold for Sh170 million.

But critics question the Sh10 million cost to NSSF of reclaiming Balozi estate and Forodha to evict people who were squatting there. The expenditure was deemed excessive, as the Fund used the police to carry out the eviction and hired a security firm to guard the premises.

The former managing trustee said he had worked "in a very difficult environment" but managed to implement reforms that had translated into gains for the Fund and depositors.

He said that when he joined the Fund three years ago, he reduced losses in the Fund's account from Sh928 million in 2002 to Sh538 million in 2003. The loss fell further to Sh312 million last year, before the trend was fully reversed this year when the organisation made a profit of Sh58 million.

Mr Mogere said decentralisation of settlement of claims to branches was among the biggest achievements in that claims that used to take up to six months to be paid were now being settled between 15 - 20 days.

He is also happy with the revolution in the Fund's IT capacity. "When I joined, there was no IT to talk about. Now, all branches are networked, making it possible to update depositor records promptly," he said.

Mr Mogere said NSSF's investment portfolio in shares, treasury bills, bonds and real estate stood at Sh70 billion, from Sh49 billion when he joined.

The former official says he championed a pensions Bill that is before Parliament which seeks to change the mode of pension payments from lumpsum to monthly. The plan envisages that the lowest earning pensioners in the monthly mode will take home is at least Sh5,000, with the amount appreciating on the basis of one's previous contributions.

He said he enforced internal controls and procedures, leading to transparency in the organisation's dealings including tendering processes. "Even the sale of basic assets of the Fund such as vehicles was a very transparent process," he said.

He said he left the organisation in a "very sound" financial position and that he had not been questioned by police regarding his work since his dismissal.

"I don't want to speculate, but these jobs come and go at some point," he said about his sacking.

"I think it's good to take a break, have some rest until the new year when I will put my cards on the table," he said, adding that he was not bitter at the developments.

– Reports by David Okwemba and Mugo Njeru

[Onyango Oloo]

This is from Kenyaniyetu:

On the Mogere/Obure Connection

Originally posted by Mossad
@ Oloo

I hear Mogere's sacking was connected to the fact that he's a first cousin to Chris Okemo one of the leading ODM members. How u known that or u still beleive it's the shady contractors whom he refused to do favors.??

Mossad.

I think that the fact of any kinship ties between Mogere and Obure is purely coincidental.

I say this for four reasons:

1. None other than Prof. Ongeri, one of the key ODM people in Kisiiland discounted this theory and actually intimated that Mogere was in the other camp, i.e, the Banana camp.

2. Simeon Nyachae and Henry Obwocha would not have gone out of their way to lobby for Mogere's reinstatement if the latter's sacking was purely a vindictive act of post-referendum retribution.

3. How would the sacking of Mogere hurt Obure and the rest of the ODM team?

4. I have been able to marshall enough "evidence" to bolster my argument whil e detecting scant details to shore up the Orange witch-hunting claim.

Having said the above, it is possible that there is some kind of ethnic pogrom targeting the Abagusii- if we can cite the cases of Ongwae, Ogongo and others.

Onyango Oloo
Nairobi