Post by miguna on Feb 8, 2006 8:12:50 GMT 3
CONSIGN THEM TO PERMANENT OBLIVION
By MIGUNA MIGUNA* - © 7 February 2006
Kenyan political pundits are literally punching their brains to pulp over the fate of President Kibaki’s government, or more correctly, what little life is left in it.
One school of thought (the more optimistic branch) has argued that if Kibaki dismisses and/or charges the unending list of senior government officials, cabinet ministers or former officials that have been mired in the Anglo Leasing and Goldenberg scandals - Moody Awori, Kiraitu Murungi, David Mwiraria, Amos Kimunya, Amos Wako, Mukhisa Kituyi, George Saitoti, Christopher Murungaru, Alfred Getonga, Njeru Ndwiga, Andrew Mullei, General (Rtd) Kibwana, Brigadier (Rtd) Wilson Boinett, Francis Muthaura, Aaron Ringera, etc - and demonstrates clearly and effectively that he still has fire in the pit of his belly to fight graft, he can weather the pounding political storm.
This list ranges from the Vice President, former ministers of Finance, Defense and Internal Security, the Attorney General, former chief of General Staff, former head of the National Security Intelligence Service (NSIS), former Solicitor General and now head of the Kenya Anti Corruption Commission (KACC), ministers for Agriculture, Industry, Lands, Energy and Education. From the point of view of centrality, sensitivity, security, budgetary allocations, prestige and closeness to the ultimate seat of power, these are the nerve centers of government in any country. The removal and prosecution of those currently occupying or that used to occupy these positions will inevitably mean that president Kibaki’s government would fall.
Although Kenyans may be forgiven for not believing anything Chris Murungaru says on these matters, at least on Anglo Leasing and related scams, he appears credible on the involvement of president Kibaki. According to Murungaru, both the departments of defense and internal security are dockets within the ministry of the Office of the President (OP), whose head is Mwai Kibaki. Murungaru has been telling anyone willing to give him a hearing that there is absolutely no way he would have signed the suspect or dodgy contracts without the knowledge, involvement and approval of the president. Murungaru also seems to exculpate himself from responsibility by virtue of what he perceived as his “secondary role” to the president in the “mother” ministry of OP.
We are also aware, for example, that the president chairs the all powerful cabinet security committee, comprising the ministers for finance, internal security and foreign affairs, as well as the head of NSIS, the chief of general staff and secretary to the cabinet and head of civil service. This is the entity that is mandated with sole responsibility of approving security contracts, presumably signing them and authorizing payment. The actual payments would then be processed and released through or by both the Treasury and the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK). However, before, during and after the contracts are entered into, the Attorney General is responsible for reviewing all the legal documents and providing competent legal advice on them. In between, we also expect the Director of KACC to make sure that the contracts are legitimate, transparent and clean.
At the very least, therefore, President Kibaki, Brigadier (Rtd) Boinett, General (Rtd) Kibwana, Ambassador Muthaura, Mr. Murungaru, Mr. Mwiraria, Amos Wako, Aaron Ringera and whoever was the foreign minister when the dodgy contracts were approved, are directly involved in this murk.
Similarly, one has to question how clean Moi, Wako, Ringera, Saitoti and Boinett could possibly have been with respect to the Goldenberg scandal. They were, after all, members of the security committee then. Except for Moi, all the others continued to be involved during the Narc government.
Yet Kibaki is unlikely to do what has been recommended by the first group of pundits. Kibaki cannot remove and prosecute all his bosom friends implicated – the people Kiraitu Murungi colourfully refers to as the “pillars” of Kibaki’s presidency – because to do so would quickly result in an irreversible crumble of his régime. The pillars propping up the government would be no more. In their absence, all that remain are the putative pretenders from Simeon Nyachae’s decimated FORD People and Musikari Kombo’s discordant FORD Kenya quartet.
Kibaki is desperate to survive beyond this year. Many observers believe that he would try anything in order to succeed himself in 2007 (if his regime lasts until then.)
However, a second group of commentators believe that the avalanche of scandals that have engulfed the Kibaki presidency will inevitably smother the fatally wounded regime. That notwithstanding all the creative, belated and desperate attempts at reconditioning the government as being pro reform and anti graft, and the futile diversionary tactics adopted lately by the government, will never be enough to bring it back to life.
In a sense, the latter group of pundits believes that Kibaki's political reincarnation is not possible.
However, amidst all the numerous explosions of political firestorms and spiraling corruption scandals surrounding the Kibaki government, only a few commentators have grasped the scale, extent and reach of the scandals and correctly touched the nerve centers that cry out for surgical excision.
Other than former president Moi and now president Kibaki, the two other central figures in the Kibaki regime that have receded to the periphery but who must have been actually the crucial engines that propelled (and could have prevented, stopped or unraveled) the scams are Amos Wako and Aaron Ringera. Let me try to explain.
Aaron Ringera
Reading between the lines of both the John Githongo and Goldenberg Reports, it is very clear that Mr. Ringera ought not to have been the individual mandated with the onerous task of fighting graft in Kenya. According to Saitoti, the Attorney General, Amos Wako, Ringera “cleared” Saitoti of involvement in the Goldenberg scam more than ten years ago, when Ringera was serving as former President Moi’s Solicitor General.
Firstly, one has to question what legal mandate a Solicitor General had investigating or clearing anyone in the scam. The function of a Solicitor General the world over is simply to act as a senior public law official assisting the Attorney General in his advisory and prosecutorial roles.
In many jurisdictions, a Solicitor General would also be responsible for the administration of specific government department like prisons. In Kenya, the Solicitor General is the senior most public administrative and accounting officer in the Public Law Office. At the same time, when Mr. Ringera was purportedly clearing Saitoti, the Solicitor General had no power to be involved in the investigation of crime (which was the exclusive function of the Kenya Police), prosecution of those charged (which was the purview of the Attorney General) and in the trial or punishment of those charged (which was the domain of the courts).
Aaron Ringera must explain when, how and by what means he investigated Saitoti. He must also produce, for our examination and vetting, the evidence he discovered and the rationale he used in exonerating Saitoti.
But Ringera has other questions he should now address before Kenyans allow him to continue withdrawing his Sh2.5 million per month remuneration – an amount higher than any remuneration of a public servant in the entire globe that I am aware of. Chief among these questions is how he will be able to satisfy the skeptical Kenyan public that he is capable of investigating his former law firm partner and Minister of Energy, Kiraitu Murungi and others such as Chris Murungaru, David Mwiraria and Moody Awori – the main pillars in this Kibaki administration that successfully lobbied for his appointment.
How will Ringera dispel the rising stench of suspicion that he is more than compromised by his cozy relationship to this coterie? How will he deal with the real or reasonable perception of bias and conflicts of interest vis-à-vis his relationship to these movers and shakers located within the innermost sanctums of the power in Kenya?
Since Ringera spent more than two years doing basically nothing about all the mega scandals in the previous and current regimes, how will he convince the cynical public that he has not been seriously compromised?
Many eyebrows were raised by reports that Ringera sought president Kibaki’s permission before starting his belated “investigation” into the Anglo Leasing and other related scams. Repeated references have been made of the obvious timing of Ringera’s purported “actions,” even though he has disappointingly refused to inform the public of what they might actually be. Ringera forgets that his “boss” is not president Kibaki, but the Kenyan public.
Why, people have legitimately asked, did he announce his purported “investigations” barely two days before the contents of the Githongo report were serialized by the Kenyan print media? Was he being used by those implicated to dupe Kenyans into believing that “action” was being taken? Can he openly declare to us that his announcement merely coincided with the release of the Githongo report?
But even supposing that Ringera’s announcement was merely a coincidence, it is still unclear why, with the amount of evidence floating in the public domain, he has not recommended that the people implicated in these scams be charged and prosecuted. It is very disturbing to note that Ringera has so far not moved expeditiously to obtain court orders freezing all the assets of the suspects. Neither has he even impounded, seized or obtained financial records of the culprits. Ironically, he is said to have given them thirty days to appear before the Kenya Anti Corruption Commission to be grilled. How long does he think it takes to electronically transfer funds from one bank account to an offshore account? Thirty seconds. A simple click of a computer mouse.
From the day Kenyans were told of Ringera’s alleged “actions,” they had good reasons to suspect that all the billions that might still have been bolted in some underground bank vault or circulating freely in the local economy have suddenly disappeared into jurisdictions well known for “investing” loot from international money launderers, drug runners, pimps and tin pots. Should this have happened, Kenyans should blame Ringera more than anybody else.
Justice Bosire lamented as he released his long awaited report to Kibaki that he was unable to locate any of the stolen billions. I highly suspect that Ringera will repeat this lament to Kenyans. Only that, unlike Justice Bosire who had had an impossible task imposed upon him, Ringera will have no excuses.
Even in the most intricate corners of the underworld, there are well defined systems and procedures. Kenyans are entitled to be cynical about the commitments of the Aaron Ringeras of this world.
Amos Wako
Based only on the recent unprecedented public exchanges between Saitoti and Wako, Kenyans should be extremely wary of the secrets hidden beneath those smiles from our Attorney General.
It was bizarre hearing the government’s chief legal advisor arguing that he is not responsible for “conducting due diligence” for the government of Kenya. Clearly all ministries and department are part of the government. Wako, however, wants us to believe that due diligence is the sole and exclusive responsibility of each and every ministry and minister involved. So, what is the precise identity of the “government” that Wako is supposed to advice? And how does one go about advising a government without conducting due diligence?
I really want to believe our AG, but I can’t. For the life of me, I cannot imagine any self respecting and competent lawyer reasoning like Wako has done.
Wako also strongly “defended” his predecessor, Mathew Guy Muli. What I couldn’t understand from his spirited defense, was the facts or evidence it was based on. Was Wako standing up for his predecessor because he occupied the same office, or it was predicated on credible evidence? Whatever Wako’s utterances were based on, could he be kind enough to share them with ordinary Kenyans? Why, in heaven’s name, did Wako fail to produce the evidence before the Goldenberg Commission?
Wako is aware that billions of dollars were stolen from Kenyans by public servants who had been entrusted to protect the public interest including the looted money. The frauds we are talking about were deliberate, calculated, methodical, extensive and intricate. They also involved many people from numerous departments, ministries, financial institutions and professions. However, when all is said and done, it was Amos Wako as the AG who was mandated not just to advise the government to sign, refuse to sign, approve, disapprove, pay or terminate the contracts, but also to order investigations or prosecutions of those involved in the scams. The fact that he is more interested in attending useless meetings, smiling to the media and attempting to pass the buck rather than instrumentally taking action against graft means that Wako either is too incompetent to act or he is too compromised to do anything. Either way, Kenyans do not deserve to carry the weight of this deadwood any longer.
We need to investigate all the people who have been involved (both centrally and peripherally) in these odious scams. That must, out of necessity, include Wako and Ringera. It is not possible to slay the pig of corruption without first cutting off its legs and tentacles.
Both the Goldenberg and Anglo Leasing related scams are the nastiest-tasting and fatal set of poison chalice in our history. We need to consign all their architects, executors and those that benefited, directly or indirectly from them - starting with the pillars of the Kibaki regime - to permanent oblivion.
______________________________________________________________________
*The writer is a Barrister & Solicitor in Toronto, Canada
By MIGUNA MIGUNA* - © 7 February 2006
Kenyan political pundits are literally punching their brains to pulp over the fate of President Kibaki’s government, or more correctly, what little life is left in it.
One school of thought (the more optimistic branch) has argued that if Kibaki dismisses and/or charges the unending list of senior government officials, cabinet ministers or former officials that have been mired in the Anglo Leasing and Goldenberg scandals - Moody Awori, Kiraitu Murungi, David Mwiraria, Amos Kimunya, Amos Wako, Mukhisa Kituyi, George Saitoti, Christopher Murungaru, Alfred Getonga, Njeru Ndwiga, Andrew Mullei, General (Rtd) Kibwana, Brigadier (Rtd) Wilson Boinett, Francis Muthaura, Aaron Ringera, etc - and demonstrates clearly and effectively that he still has fire in the pit of his belly to fight graft, he can weather the pounding political storm.
This list ranges from the Vice President, former ministers of Finance, Defense and Internal Security, the Attorney General, former chief of General Staff, former head of the National Security Intelligence Service (NSIS), former Solicitor General and now head of the Kenya Anti Corruption Commission (KACC), ministers for Agriculture, Industry, Lands, Energy and Education. From the point of view of centrality, sensitivity, security, budgetary allocations, prestige and closeness to the ultimate seat of power, these are the nerve centers of government in any country. The removal and prosecution of those currently occupying or that used to occupy these positions will inevitably mean that president Kibaki’s government would fall.
Although Kenyans may be forgiven for not believing anything Chris Murungaru says on these matters, at least on Anglo Leasing and related scams, he appears credible on the involvement of president Kibaki. According to Murungaru, both the departments of defense and internal security are dockets within the ministry of the Office of the President (OP), whose head is Mwai Kibaki. Murungaru has been telling anyone willing to give him a hearing that there is absolutely no way he would have signed the suspect or dodgy contracts without the knowledge, involvement and approval of the president. Murungaru also seems to exculpate himself from responsibility by virtue of what he perceived as his “secondary role” to the president in the “mother” ministry of OP.
We are also aware, for example, that the president chairs the all powerful cabinet security committee, comprising the ministers for finance, internal security and foreign affairs, as well as the head of NSIS, the chief of general staff and secretary to the cabinet and head of civil service. This is the entity that is mandated with sole responsibility of approving security contracts, presumably signing them and authorizing payment. The actual payments would then be processed and released through or by both the Treasury and the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK). However, before, during and after the contracts are entered into, the Attorney General is responsible for reviewing all the legal documents and providing competent legal advice on them. In between, we also expect the Director of KACC to make sure that the contracts are legitimate, transparent and clean.
At the very least, therefore, President Kibaki, Brigadier (Rtd) Boinett, General (Rtd) Kibwana, Ambassador Muthaura, Mr. Murungaru, Mr. Mwiraria, Amos Wako, Aaron Ringera and whoever was the foreign minister when the dodgy contracts were approved, are directly involved in this murk.
Similarly, one has to question how clean Moi, Wako, Ringera, Saitoti and Boinett could possibly have been with respect to the Goldenberg scandal. They were, after all, members of the security committee then. Except for Moi, all the others continued to be involved during the Narc government.
Yet Kibaki is unlikely to do what has been recommended by the first group of pundits. Kibaki cannot remove and prosecute all his bosom friends implicated – the people Kiraitu Murungi colourfully refers to as the “pillars” of Kibaki’s presidency – because to do so would quickly result in an irreversible crumble of his régime. The pillars propping up the government would be no more. In their absence, all that remain are the putative pretenders from Simeon Nyachae’s decimated FORD People and Musikari Kombo’s discordant FORD Kenya quartet.
Kibaki is desperate to survive beyond this year. Many observers believe that he would try anything in order to succeed himself in 2007 (if his regime lasts until then.)
However, a second group of commentators believe that the avalanche of scandals that have engulfed the Kibaki presidency will inevitably smother the fatally wounded regime. That notwithstanding all the creative, belated and desperate attempts at reconditioning the government as being pro reform and anti graft, and the futile diversionary tactics adopted lately by the government, will never be enough to bring it back to life.
In a sense, the latter group of pundits believes that Kibaki's political reincarnation is not possible.
However, amidst all the numerous explosions of political firestorms and spiraling corruption scandals surrounding the Kibaki government, only a few commentators have grasped the scale, extent and reach of the scandals and correctly touched the nerve centers that cry out for surgical excision.
Other than former president Moi and now president Kibaki, the two other central figures in the Kibaki regime that have receded to the periphery but who must have been actually the crucial engines that propelled (and could have prevented, stopped or unraveled) the scams are Amos Wako and Aaron Ringera. Let me try to explain.
Aaron Ringera
Reading between the lines of both the John Githongo and Goldenberg Reports, it is very clear that Mr. Ringera ought not to have been the individual mandated with the onerous task of fighting graft in Kenya. According to Saitoti, the Attorney General, Amos Wako, Ringera “cleared” Saitoti of involvement in the Goldenberg scam more than ten years ago, when Ringera was serving as former President Moi’s Solicitor General.
Firstly, one has to question what legal mandate a Solicitor General had investigating or clearing anyone in the scam. The function of a Solicitor General the world over is simply to act as a senior public law official assisting the Attorney General in his advisory and prosecutorial roles.
In many jurisdictions, a Solicitor General would also be responsible for the administration of specific government department like prisons. In Kenya, the Solicitor General is the senior most public administrative and accounting officer in the Public Law Office. At the same time, when Mr. Ringera was purportedly clearing Saitoti, the Solicitor General had no power to be involved in the investigation of crime (which was the exclusive function of the Kenya Police), prosecution of those charged (which was the purview of the Attorney General) and in the trial or punishment of those charged (which was the domain of the courts).
Aaron Ringera must explain when, how and by what means he investigated Saitoti. He must also produce, for our examination and vetting, the evidence he discovered and the rationale he used in exonerating Saitoti.
But Ringera has other questions he should now address before Kenyans allow him to continue withdrawing his Sh2.5 million per month remuneration – an amount higher than any remuneration of a public servant in the entire globe that I am aware of. Chief among these questions is how he will be able to satisfy the skeptical Kenyan public that he is capable of investigating his former law firm partner and Minister of Energy, Kiraitu Murungi and others such as Chris Murungaru, David Mwiraria and Moody Awori – the main pillars in this Kibaki administration that successfully lobbied for his appointment.
How will Ringera dispel the rising stench of suspicion that he is more than compromised by his cozy relationship to this coterie? How will he deal with the real or reasonable perception of bias and conflicts of interest vis-à-vis his relationship to these movers and shakers located within the innermost sanctums of the power in Kenya?
Since Ringera spent more than two years doing basically nothing about all the mega scandals in the previous and current regimes, how will he convince the cynical public that he has not been seriously compromised?
Many eyebrows were raised by reports that Ringera sought president Kibaki’s permission before starting his belated “investigation” into the Anglo Leasing and other related scams. Repeated references have been made of the obvious timing of Ringera’s purported “actions,” even though he has disappointingly refused to inform the public of what they might actually be. Ringera forgets that his “boss” is not president Kibaki, but the Kenyan public.
Why, people have legitimately asked, did he announce his purported “investigations” barely two days before the contents of the Githongo report were serialized by the Kenyan print media? Was he being used by those implicated to dupe Kenyans into believing that “action” was being taken? Can he openly declare to us that his announcement merely coincided with the release of the Githongo report?
But even supposing that Ringera’s announcement was merely a coincidence, it is still unclear why, with the amount of evidence floating in the public domain, he has not recommended that the people implicated in these scams be charged and prosecuted. It is very disturbing to note that Ringera has so far not moved expeditiously to obtain court orders freezing all the assets of the suspects. Neither has he even impounded, seized or obtained financial records of the culprits. Ironically, he is said to have given them thirty days to appear before the Kenya Anti Corruption Commission to be grilled. How long does he think it takes to electronically transfer funds from one bank account to an offshore account? Thirty seconds. A simple click of a computer mouse.
From the day Kenyans were told of Ringera’s alleged “actions,” they had good reasons to suspect that all the billions that might still have been bolted in some underground bank vault or circulating freely in the local economy have suddenly disappeared into jurisdictions well known for “investing” loot from international money launderers, drug runners, pimps and tin pots. Should this have happened, Kenyans should blame Ringera more than anybody else.
Justice Bosire lamented as he released his long awaited report to Kibaki that he was unable to locate any of the stolen billions. I highly suspect that Ringera will repeat this lament to Kenyans. Only that, unlike Justice Bosire who had had an impossible task imposed upon him, Ringera will have no excuses.
Even in the most intricate corners of the underworld, there are well defined systems and procedures. Kenyans are entitled to be cynical about the commitments of the Aaron Ringeras of this world.
Amos Wako
Based only on the recent unprecedented public exchanges between Saitoti and Wako, Kenyans should be extremely wary of the secrets hidden beneath those smiles from our Attorney General.
It was bizarre hearing the government’s chief legal advisor arguing that he is not responsible for “conducting due diligence” for the government of Kenya. Clearly all ministries and department are part of the government. Wako, however, wants us to believe that due diligence is the sole and exclusive responsibility of each and every ministry and minister involved. So, what is the precise identity of the “government” that Wako is supposed to advice? And how does one go about advising a government without conducting due diligence?
I really want to believe our AG, but I can’t. For the life of me, I cannot imagine any self respecting and competent lawyer reasoning like Wako has done.
Wako also strongly “defended” his predecessor, Mathew Guy Muli. What I couldn’t understand from his spirited defense, was the facts or evidence it was based on. Was Wako standing up for his predecessor because he occupied the same office, or it was predicated on credible evidence? Whatever Wako’s utterances were based on, could he be kind enough to share them with ordinary Kenyans? Why, in heaven’s name, did Wako fail to produce the evidence before the Goldenberg Commission?
Wako is aware that billions of dollars were stolen from Kenyans by public servants who had been entrusted to protect the public interest including the looted money. The frauds we are talking about were deliberate, calculated, methodical, extensive and intricate. They also involved many people from numerous departments, ministries, financial institutions and professions. However, when all is said and done, it was Amos Wako as the AG who was mandated not just to advise the government to sign, refuse to sign, approve, disapprove, pay or terminate the contracts, but also to order investigations or prosecutions of those involved in the scams. The fact that he is more interested in attending useless meetings, smiling to the media and attempting to pass the buck rather than instrumentally taking action against graft means that Wako either is too incompetent to act or he is too compromised to do anything. Either way, Kenyans do not deserve to carry the weight of this deadwood any longer.
We need to investigate all the people who have been involved (both centrally and peripherally) in these odious scams. That must, out of necessity, include Wako and Ringera. It is not possible to slay the pig of corruption without first cutting off its legs and tentacles.
Both the Goldenberg and Anglo Leasing related scams are the nastiest-tasting and fatal set of poison chalice in our history. We need to consign all their architects, executors and those that benefited, directly or indirectly from them - starting with the pillars of the Kibaki regime - to permanent oblivion.
______________________________________________________________________
*The writer is a Barrister & Solicitor in Toronto, Canada
