E-Clips:- Business Pictorial - Minister Escapes The Sack By A Whisker

A Cabinet minister in a key ministry may have narrowly escaped the sack over alleged excessive corrupt practices, the Sunday Nation can now reveal.

The minister was a probable first casualty in the Kibaki government, widely lauded by the international community over its war on graft – a vice that had earned the country a bad reputation across the world.

"Although it is the prerogative of the President to hire and fire members of his cabinet, this minister had overtly embarrassed the Kibaki government which was elected on the platform of fighting corruption and there was no doubt that he was going to go," his cabinet colleague told Sunday Nation.

The minister in question is alleged to have been involved in a series of corrupt deals including land grabbing and irregular issuance of tenders.

Perhaps the most publicised case, and one that irked the government most, revolved around a tender issued to a company owned by a Nairobi business tycoon who is a national official of Opposition party, Kanu.

Probably aware of his fate, the minister unleashed a tirade of attacks on the government, a certain community and even the Presidency. However, he beat a quick retreat making it difficult for the government to sack or prefer charges against him.

However, efforts to get a comment from the said minister were thwarted by his senior aides who insisted "he could not comment on such an issue."

Mbita MP, Mr Otieno Kajwang, who is a member of the Public Accounts Committee, the Parliamentary watchdog on government financial expenditure, says the minister has finally been eased out of the hitch quietly "for having apologised and reformed."

Mr Kajwang says the minister may have been let off the hook because of his perceived good political mobilisation skills at the grassroots level. "They (government) realised that he was more dangerous outside than within," says Mr Kajwang.

Even as the government fights graft, it appears that this minister has turned out to be a big asset of one faction of the ruling coalition which is fractured between NAK and LDP.

A number of ministers and MPs polled by Sunday Nation confirmed knowledge of the case. Said one NAK-allied minister with strong State House connections: "There is no need of pursuing him any more as he appears to have stopped poking his fingers in the cookie jar. Besides, criminal proceedings are meant for behavioural change and he has changed already."

Asked for comment, Ethics and Governance Permanent Secretary John Githongo gave the Sunday Nation a curt reply: "All allegations are being investigated." Subukia MP, Mr Koigi wa Wamwere, was the first politician to have publicly sounded the alarm bells over the judicial compromise on the account of political support.

Already, some names of political party leaders are featuring in high-profile cases over alleged land grabbing. Speaking to Sunday Nation earlier in the week, Lands and Settlement minister, Mr Amos Kimunya said the Government had actually been confronted with a similar challenge during the crucial Bomas III exercise but opted to go it alone.

"Of course, the government was not going to hammer out such a deal even if it meant losing out on support at Bomas," says Mr Kimunya.

Mr Githongo now vows that the government will push through the fight even though it is faced with a huge political price. "This administration is willing to pay the political price of fighting corruption in its own ranks no matter how high that corruption reaches," he warned.

Mr Githongo was reacting to the scathing attack by the LDP on the government last Thursday for what it describes as "the return of grand corruption" to the government.

LDP called on the government to immediately arrest the steep descent of the nation into grand corruption. The party’s warning comes in the wake of a series of damaging revelations which resulted in the government being compelled to cancel a controversial Sh2.7 billion contract for new passports, pending investigations.

Maoka Maore of Kanu exposed the deal whose initial cost was Sh800 million, had been exaggerated to Sh2.7 billion, and a tender awarded to a French firm without competitive bidding.

Two permanent secretaries, Mr Joseph Magari and Sylvester Mwaliko of Treasury and Home Affairs, respectively, and the Principal Immigration Officer, Mr Henry ole Ndiema have already been questioned.

Vice-President Moody Awori, one of the luminaries of LDP, has defended the deal in Parliament, claiming the bid could not have been made public as it "touched on a security matter."

In an interview with the Sunday Nation, Mr Kajwang enumerated a host of other corrupt deals, including the alleged scandal of the Sh1.5 billion cranes tender at the Kenya Ports Authority and the procurement of handcuffs from South Africa.

Even as the government promises commitment to fight the vice, "no matter the price," it is emerging that corruption is likely to become the new battlefield between wrangling factions of the ruling coalition.

But the government, says Mr Kimunya, is now determined to name, shame and pursue those cases – even if it means tainting those involved and possibly making them lose their political credibility.