E-Clips:- Business Pictorial - Mwiraria Resigns

The Sh7 billion Anglo Leasing twin scandals have claimed their first scalp with the resignation of Finance minister David Mwiraria. The soft-spoken politician, known to be one of President Kibaki's most vicious defenders, went down protesting that he was an innocent man.

"As I step aside, my conscience is clear that I have served the Kenyan people with dedication and honesty and have not been party to any irregularity, criminal act or unethical conduct." Mwiraria read the resignation letter to the Press in his Treasury Building boardroom on Wednesday, a few hours after Kibaki let him go as part of the desperate effort to ease the pressure mounting on him to sack ministers and civil servants whose names have been sucked into the biggest scandal that spoiled National Rainbow Coalition's honeymoon after the 2002 electoral victory. The Standard on Wednesday exclusively reported that panic had gripped ministers and President Kibaki's supporters after the Head of State promised to "take some action" on the report by former Permanent Secretary John Githongo, which implicated senior members of his Government in grand corruption.

News of his abrupt resignation was quickly followed by speculation that Vice-President Moody Awori and Energy minister Kiraitu Murungi would follow suit.

Paving way for investigations

The two, like Mwiraria, are believed to have vital information on the Anglo Leasing "ghosts by virtue of their Cabinet portfolios at the time the forensic kits and tamper-proof passports scandals happened.

"I can confirm to you that His Excellency the President has indeed accepted my letter," Mwiraria, who declined to answer questions from journalists, said. He said he was walking out of the Cabinet of President Kibaki, his friend of decades and who he had deputised at the Democratic Party since 1992, to pave way for investigations. Mwiraria is on the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission list along with three other Cabinet members and former minister, Chris Murungaru. They are required to answer questions on Anglo Leasing and other corrupt deals in which the Government paid out more than a billion shillings to non-existent companies.

A forlorn Mwiraria, who had several times vowed he would not yield to pressure to quit, read the resignation letter as the storm raged, with the Opposition asking President Kibaki to seek a fresh mandate ostensibly because the credibility of his Government was now beyond salvage. Mwiraria said in his letter that the allegations levelled against him in the media, and attributed to a report by the former Permanent Secretary for Ethics and Governance, Mr John Githongo, over the Anglo Leasing scam had cast serious aspersions on his character and integrity and deeply disturbed him. "In order that my name (may) be cleared and to protect the integrity of the President, the Government and our country Kenya, I hereby voluntarily step aside as your minister for Finance and a member of the Cabinet to pave way for investigations."

He added: "I would, however, like to make a request that investigations be carried out expeditiously so that the truth and the facts of the matter can be established. This will spare me and my family the agony of having to sit and watch as my integrity is unfairly put to question." Mwiraria, who looked a bit shaken at the start of the Press conference, slowly composed himself as the TV cameras zoomed in on him. He seemed surprised that the news briefing to which he was accompanied by the Treasury's public relations officer, Eunice Muthamia and an aide, Martin Mwiti, was well attended. "You mean it is a full house here?" Mwiraria joked as he sat down for the briefing.

Mwiraria is on record admitting that he authorised Sh 7 billion tenders for procurement of Kenya police forensic laboratories and passports for the mysterious Anglo Leasing firm.

Appended his signature

Although he admitted that the initial payment to the firm had been wired back into the country, Mwiraria never said who returned the money. He entrenched himself in the controversy when he called the Government spokesman, Dr Alfred Mutua, a dreamer when he told the nation the faceless characters behind the rip-off nipped at the bud had returned the money. When the public demanded his resignation for appending his signature on the Sh 7 billion Anglo Leasing tenders, the minister said his Permanent Secretary, Mr Joseph Magari, had misled him.

Mwiraria, who confessed to Parliament last year when the scam was exposed by Kanu MPs Maoka Maore and Kuria Kanyingi that he was misled by Magari into signing the deals, drew an uproar in the House with members demanding that he carries the cross. Since then, pressure has been mounting both in and out of the House for the resignation of all Cabinet ministers under whose portfolio the deals were transacted. They are Awori, under whose ministry the passports deal was transacted, and former Office of the President minister in charge of Internal Security, Dr Chris Murungaru. Murungaru has since been dropped from the Cabinet by Kibaki while Awori is still in office. However, his former PS, Sylvester Mwaliko, has been charged in court together with Magari.

Fresh information by Githongo has since implicated Kiraitu — who is on record as telling Kenyans that Anglo Leasing was "a scandal that never was." Githongo's report revealed that, in fact, Anglo Leasing and other controversial projects were being used to raise money for President Kibaki's political war chest.The move by Mwiraria comes barely a day after Ford Kenya demanded that ministers named in the Anglo Leasing scandals resign.