For Kibaki, Fighting Graft Would Be Political Suicide

Daily Nation

21 January 2007 Page: 8

The Sunday Nation interviewed exiled former Ethics permanent secretary John Githongo who blew the whistle on Anglo Leasing. Excerpts: Q: SUNDAY NATION: How do you feel the fight against corruption stands today? A: Mr Githongo: One might be encouraged to ask, “what fight?” But on a more serious note we have now reached the point where for the current administration to fight high-level corruption seriously would be to commit political suicide. Complicity in the transactions collectively known as Anglo Leasing goes to the very top, so political accountability is unlikely. Q: The Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission on Friday cleared Energy minister Kiraitu Murungi of wrongdoing in the Anglo Leasing scandal. Is this a step in enhancing the fight against corruption? A: No, it’s a giant step backwards. It also comes as no surprise whatsoever. [KACC director Justice Aaron] Ringera had told me that nothing would happen on these matters and he clearly has kept his word. He is steadfast in his determination to ensure that political expediency triumphs over the truth. I believe he should resign his position immediately and apologise to the Kenyan people for using substantial public resources to take them for a ride. He is still unable to tell us who Anglo Leasing is despite the fact that we discussed this with him several times. He knows, the President knows, I know and most Kenyans have an idea. Q: KACC says your accusation that Mr Murungi tried to interfere with investigations does not hold water because you were not an investigator. A: I never pretended to be an investigator. The President asked me to inquire into matters and I did; using all the energy I could muster and calling on all the relevant agencies including the KACC. Mr Murungi told me to stop inquiries into these matters several times. [Former Finance Minister David] Mwiraria as well. It was my letter to the KACC that had instigated the investigations and I continued to push for their expeditious conclusion. Thinking back, things were actually moving along properly until August 2004 when Justice Ringera took over at the helm of KACC and everything slowed down thereafter. While in London in March for the appearance before KACC, Justice Ringera told Prof (Makau) Mutua and I that we should drop our pursuit of the perpetrators of the Anglo Leasing scandals because, as he put it, “the culprits had already suffered enough.” Mr (Hussein) Were and Dr (John) Mutonyi were present in the room when Justice Ringera offered this advice. Later, Justice Ringera pulled Prof Mutua and I aside and told us that there would be no Anglo Leasing prosecutions until after the elections in 2008, if ever. He warned us not to underestimate the “pain that you have caused certain people.” Q: It also alleges that you refused to record a formal statement… A: This is incredible nonsense. At Justice Ringera’s request Prof Makau Mutua, my legal adviser, and I, prepared detailed responses to questions that the KACC itself had put to us in advance of our appearance in London at the Kenya High Commission in the United Kingdom in March last year. Prof Mutua and I had duly signed the document containing those responses. Furthermore, during my extensive one-and-a-half-day appearance before Justice Ringera and the KACC, I provided them with extremely detailed oral responses to their questions. Justice Ringera himself has acknowledged in writing that I was very helpful to KACC at that appearance. What is more, Justice Ringera had made joint arrangements with the Kenya High Commission in March to have our entire appearance before the KACC audio-recorded. In those sessions, I provided Justice Ringera with all the information they had requested and more. I am certain that we gave him the most complete accounting of what I knew about those scandals. The KACC officers who had accompanied Justice Ringera at those sessions – Dr Mutonyi and Mr Were – not only recorded the sessions on tape, but also took copious notes. Unsurprisingly, the taping system failed. When I met Justice Ringera in November last year at the International Anti-Corruption Conference in Guatemala I once again offered to give him yet another statement. He not only agreed but he even suggested that this time I myself would provide the taping equipment so that I could then sign the resulting transcript. You should not be surprised to note that I have not heard from him since. I believe Justice Ringera never wanted a statement from me – not, in any event, a truthful one. Q: And that the lawyer you said gave a file on your father to Mr Murungi denied ever doing so. A: This is a blatant lie that is easy to prove, but is the subject of ongoing legal proceedings, so I shall not comment on it for now. Q: Do you feel that KACC has impartially disposed of this matter? A: Impartiality was never Justice Ringera’s intention, so no, KACC has not done so. But this appears to be a hallmark of the treatment of many of the cases that KACC under Justice Ringera has been presented with. In my mind, it is clear Justice Ringera’s primary motive was to find ways to discount my evidence. His full legal experience appears to have been applied to conceal the truth. But it is also no coincidence that KACC has disposed of this matter just in time for preparations for the upcoming political season. Q: Given your experience, why do you think KACC has closed the file? A: Justice Ringera told me that essentially the politics did not allow closure on Anglo Leasing under the Kibaki administration. So he has contrived the necessary legalese to achieve that objective. He will protest with his hand on the Bible and quote Shakespeare about it but the facts regarding his conduct on this matter since he took over as the head of the KACC substantively in August 2004 speak for themselves. In the end he will rue his Faustian pact against the people of Kenya. Q: If you were still the President’s adviser, what would you have told him to do in these circumstances? A: The advice that I gave him in 2004 and early 2005 still applies. He certainly knows and always has known what needs to be done.