Post by Daktari wa makazi on Feb 28, 2006 22:44:05 GMT 3
Now that the dust has settled, and the Anglo Fleecing scandal moved to different stage awaiting Amos Wako and the DPP to bring prosecutions in the Courts of Law, it is time to review the accusation raised in many places that Githongo is a British spy. Note. I have conveniently ignored Martha Karua and her useless investigations.
By exposing the Anglo Fleecing thieves and unmasking Kibaki as a head of a marauding thieving gang, my take is Githongo has done Kenya a heroic service. He has marked his place in our history and I hope that he will be remembered with kind fondness.
Why then is there such hostility towards him calling him a British spy? I note that Onyango Oloo and his dubious ‘friend’ Kamalet have propagated the hostility in this board. Their reasons of such allegations are far fetched and to me unsubstantiated. I have waited to see more substance that is tangible in the said allegations but none has been forthcoming.
It is common knowledge that the West has lobbied Kenyan politicians since the days of the cold war. Many politicians dead or alive had or have a very close working relationship with their Western counterparts. Many politicians, young and old, studied in the West on their hosts’ country scholarships. For example, as earlier as 1929, Jomo Kenyatta as a leader of a Kikuyu Central Association (KCA), went to England as a visitor of the Conservative Party whom he maintained close relationship with to his death. He later married a daughter of a Conservative official and studied in England on the host governemnet scholarship.
Nevertheless, I disgress. I read the whole Githongo’s dossier and I formed the view that it recorded in a narrative style direct communications with people who he names as villians. Such material can in my humble opinion be used in a Court of Law, with the help of testimony collated through cross-examinations, as it does not fall victim of hearsay rule. Here is a man who spent two years as permanent secretary for ethics and governance and within that peirod has documented clearly the people behind the Anglo Fleecing scandal. He has record oral converstaions which clearly finger several named individuals. From my sources I understand he recorded what he alleges were his conversations with Gitonga, Awori, Murangaru, Kiraitu and Mwiraria, who confess their roles in concealing a series of bogus contracts, designed to leach hundreds of millions of dollars from the exchequer and from among themsleves the gang name the other villians in compelling details. Githongo’s dossier records what, when and where individuals conspired to participate and participated in the corruption. I have noted, in my considered opionon the narrative records have no hearsay in them and can therefore be used in a Court of Law as an evidential testimony to be corraborated with cross-examination. Indeed, the Law Society had threatened to sue the named parties in private prosecution based on the Githongo dossier. I await to see any such actions. Having said that, I fear Kibaki and his cronies may not bring any prosecutions at all. Martha Karua is busy investigating evindence ripe for prosecution. I sometimes wonder what some Father Wamugunda gave this formerly gallant Lawyer?
From what I have read, Onyango Oloo accuses Githongo, who had been a freelance journalist and thrived in the world of western-sponsored non-governmental organisations before his civil service post, for hiding in the UK for two years having no communication with other Kenyans in the UK. I read Oloo to infer that because Githongo's choice to publish his dossier on the Nation and the BBC and that he has been holed up in Oxford University incomminicado he Githongo must be a British governemnt operative. Ironically, Murangaru and Kiraitu also say the same. And so is Kamalet.
The truth is Oxford University has not relationship with the UK governmnet of the day. The UK government has never influenced admission to its 32 Colleges to my knowledge. As evident, only recently, the UK government has indicated its displeasure with Oxford as Oxford employed Prof Tariq Ramadhan who has been deported from the USA on allegations of supporting terrorism and now teaches at Oxford.
1. As his dossier clearly stated, Githongo is Senior Associate Member of St. Anthony’s College. And from the College’s website, I read
“Senior Associate members are usually academics on sabbatical leave, who wish to come to the College to work within the regional Centres and/or with particular Fellows for varying periods of time from one term to one academic year. Senior Associate members must be elected via the Fellowships Committee and Governing Body. Those wishing to be considered for Senior Associate Membership will need to have sponsorship from a Governing Body Fellow and initial contact should be made via the individual Fellow, to whom an up-to-date curriculum vitae and a brief outline of the research proposal should be sent. The College charges a membership fee for Senior Associate Membership, which provides access to College facilities and some University facilities, including the Bodleian Library. There are no research funds for Senior Associate Membership and individuals must be entirely self-financing”.
From above, it is clear that there is no research fund for Githongo and he is entirely self-financing and have paid fees like any other member.
Ofcourse, Oxford have a long establish research programmes on Kenya. Dr David Anderson, University Lecturer in African Studies has published Eroding the Commons: The Politics of Ecology in Kenya (James Currey, 2002), and Histories of the Hanged: Britain's Dirty War in Kenya and the End of Empire in 2004.
I understand he is now engaged in a project on drugs in Africa, beginning with a study of the transnational marketing and consumption of khat.
2. Some have dwelt on Githongo’s visa to the UK. It is rather stupid to argue that because Githongo was quickly given a working visa to faciliate his current position in Oxford, he must have worked for the UK gov't. From the stories I read on the Kenyan press, Githongo was born in the UK and according to UK Immigration Rules; he has a right of abode to the UK notwithstanding the passport he holds by virtue of birth.
It clear that there is no substance on the allegations of being a spy.
Let us not deviate attention from Kibaki. Anglo Fleecing exposure has him squarely involved in corruption. Anything others did or not were predicated on Kibaki's permission. I agree we would like to punish and hold others responsible too and lay blame on them but to do so we have to get Kibaki first.
Kamalet is a propagandist, a pro-government one if one chooses to go by other posts he has written. I hold the strong view that to side with him is to aid, and abet him in his devious plans.
I feel very strongly that until we as a nation grow a backbone and fight for the things we believe in, we will continue to be a down-trodden pathetic people. Now that Kibaki is about to be forced out in 2007, I am not surprised at the emergence on new views that claims that he is not truly at fault for the failures and inadequacies in Kenya today. I believe that anyone who is willing to forward such opinions that diminish Kibaki’s responsibility for nation’s condition and rapid deterioration is not only blind to the facts, but are also a traitor of the Kenyan people.
At the point that Kibaki was in complete and solitary control of the nation, he opened himself up to strict accountability and responsibility for all the economic, social, and political failures in the state. Therefore, Kibaki is responsible for all the inefficiencies in the Judicial, Legislative, and Executive branches of the Kenya government.
Lately I note the fight Kibaki has started with the Standard by arresting its journalists. Martha Karau had extended the enemy badge to the Standard Newspapers sometimes ago. Kibaki operatives have haunted the Citizen and many others. Kibaki has effectively limited the freedom of Speech and freedom of Press in the country. It seems to me that it is pity that the hands of the “opinion shapers” are tied – the good men and women who have championed the good fight and tightly at that. Corrupt Ministers are quick to threaten the press with libel and defamation. In fact Kibaki has been so effective in curtailing our freedoms, that I can confidently argue that he has also managed to limit the freedom of thought of the average mwananchi.
But, for Kibaki to cajole the likes of Onyango Oloo for their sympathy against the imaginary neocolonialists British shows how far we as Kenyans have yet to go.
God help us.
By exposing the Anglo Fleecing thieves and unmasking Kibaki as a head of a marauding thieving gang, my take is Githongo has done Kenya a heroic service. He has marked his place in our history and I hope that he will be remembered with kind fondness.
Why then is there such hostility towards him calling him a British spy? I note that Onyango Oloo and his dubious ‘friend’ Kamalet have propagated the hostility in this board. Their reasons of such allegations are far fetched and to me unsubstantiated. I have waited to see more substance that is tangible in the said allegations but none has been forthcoming.
It is common knowledge that the West has lobbied Kenyan politicians since the days of the cold war. Many politicians dead or alive had or have a very close working relationship with their Western counterparts. Many politicians, young and old, studied in the West on their hosts’ country scholarships. For example, as earlier as 1929, Jomo Kenyatta as a leader of a Kikuyu Central Association (KCA), went to England as a visitor of the Conservative Party whom he maintained close relationship with to his death. He later married a daughter of a Conservative official and studied in England on the host governemnet scholarship.
Nevertheless, I disgress. I read the whole Githongo’s dossier and I formed the view that it recorded in a narrative style direct communications with people who he names as villians. Such material can in my humble opinion be used in a Court of Law, with the help of testimony collated through cross-examinations, as it does not fall victim of hearsay rule. Here is a man who spent two years as permanent secretary for ethics and governance and within that peirod has documented clearly the people behind the Anglo Fleecing scandal. He has record oral converstaions which clearly finger several named individuals. From my sources I understand he recorded what he alleges were his conversations with Gitonga, Awori, Murangaru, Kiraitu and Mwiraria, who confess their roles in concealing a series of bogus contracts, designed to leach hundreds of millions of dollars from the exchequer and from among themsleves the gang name the other villians in compelling details. Githongo’s dossier records what, when and where individuals conspired to participate and participated in the corruption. I have noted, in my considered opionon the narrative records have no hearsay in them and can therefore be used in a Court of Law as an evidential testimony to be corraborated with cross-examination. Indeed, the Law Society had threatened to sue the named parties in private prosecution based on the Githongo dossier. I await to see any such actions. Having said that, I fear Kibaki and his cronies may not bring any prosecutions at all. Martha Karua is busy investigating evindence ripe for prosecution. I sometimes wonder what some Father Wamugunda gave this formerly gallant Lawyer?
From what I have read, Onyango Oloo accuses Githongo, who had been a freelance journalist and thrived in the world of western-sponsored non-governmental organisations before his civil service post, for hiding in the UK for two years having no communication with other Kenyans in the UK. I read Oloo to infer that because Githongo's choice to publish his dossier on the Nation and the BBC and that he has been holed up in Oxford University incomminicado he Githongo must be a British governemnt operative. Ironically, Murangaru and Kiraitu also say the same. And so is Kamalet.
The truth is Oxford University has not relationship with the UK governmnet of the day. The UK government has never influenced admission to its 32 Colleges to my knowledge. As evident, only recently, the UK government has indicated its displeasure with Oxford as Oxford employed Prof Tariq Ramadhan who has been deported from the USA on allegations of supporting terrorism and now teaches at Oxford.
1. As his dossier clearly stated, Githongo is Senior Associate Member of St. Anthony’s College. And from the College’s website, I read
“Senior Associate members are usually academics on sabbatical leave, who wish to come to the College to work within the regional Centres and/or with particular Fellows for varying periods of time from one term to one academic year. Senior Associate members must be elected via the Fellowships Committee and Governing Body. Those wishing to be considered for Senior Associate Membership will need to have sponsorship from a Governing Body Fellow and initial contact should be made via the individual Fellow, to whom an up-to-date curriculum vitae and a brief outline of the research proposal should be sent. The College charges a membership fee for Senior Associate Membership, which provides access to College facilities and some University facilities, including the Bodleian Library. There are no research funds for Senior Associate Membership and individuals must be entirely self-financing”.
From above, it is clear that there is no research fund for Githongo and he is entirely self-financing and have paid fees like any other member.
Ofcourse, Oxford have a long establish research programmes on Kenya. Dr David Anderson, University Lecturer in African Studies has published Eroding the Commons: The Politics of Ecology in Kenya (James Currey, 2002), and Histories of the Hanged: Britain's Dirty War in Kenya and the End of Empire in 2004.
I understand he is now engaged in a project on drugs in Africa, beginning with a study of the transnational marketing and consumption of khat.
2. Some have dwelt on Githongo’s visa to the UK. It is rather stupid to argue that because Githongo was quickly given a working visa to faciliate his current position in Oxford, he must have worked for the UK gov't. From the stories I read on the Kenyan press, Githongo was born in the UK and according to UK Immigration Rules; he has a right of abode to the UK notwithstanding the passport he holds by virtue of birth.
It clear that there is no substance on the allegations of being a spy.
Let us not deviate attention from Kibaki. Anglo Fleecing exposure has him squarely involved in corruption. Anything others did or not were predicated on Kibaki's permission. I agree we would like to punish and hold others responsible too and lay blame on them but to do so we have to get Kibaki first.
Kamalet is a propagandist, a pro-government one if one chooses to go by other posts he has written. I hold the strong view that to side with him is to aid, and abet him in his devious plans.
I feel very strongly that until we as a nation grow a backbone and fight for the things we believe in, we will continue to be a down-trodden pathetic people. Now that Kibaki is about to be forced out in 2007, I am not surprised at the emergence on new views that claims that he is not truly at fault for the failures and inadequacies in Kenya today. I believe that anyone who is willing to forward such opinions that diminish Kibaki’s responsibility for nation’s condition and rapid deterioration is not only blind to the facts, but are also a traitor of the Kenyan people.
At the point that Kibaki was in complete and solitary control of the nation, he opened himself up to strict accountability and responsibility for all the economic, social, and political failures in the state. Therefore, Kibaki is responsible for all the inefficiencies in the Judicial, Legislative, and Executive branches of the Kenya government.
Lately I note the fight Kibaki has started with the Standard by arresting its journalists. Martha Karau had extended the enemy badge to the Standard Newspapers sometimes ago. Kibaki operatives have haunted the Citizen and many others. Kibaki has effectively limited the freedom of Speech and freedom of Press in the country. It seems to me that it is pity that the hands of the “opinion shapers” are tied – the good men and women who have championed the good fight and tightly at that. Corrupt Ministers are quick to threaten the press with libel and defamation. In fact Kibaki has been so effective in curtailing our freedoms, that I can confidently argue that he has also managed to limit the freedom of thought of the average mwananchi.
But, for Kibaki to cajole the likes of Onyango Oloo for their sympathy against the imaginary neocolonialists British shows how far we as Kenyans have yet to go.
God help us.
