New Cracks Emerge In Narc East African Standard 07 May 2004 Page: 1
Fresh cracks emerged in the ruling coalition over the fight against corruption yesterday, even as the government reiterated its commitment to fight the vice, no matter the price.
The government sent a powerful message that it was prepared to pay any price to fight corruption within its ranks. But even as it was doing so, it also emerged that corruption is likely to become the new battlefield between wrangling factions of the ruling coalition.
Ethics and Governance Permanent Secretary John Githongo vowed that the government would 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.
But even as the government was underlining its commitment to fight graft, LDP was distancing itself from what it described as "the return of grand corruption" to the government.
LDP said it deplored the official corruption in the Narc government, which it described as running counter to the promises the party made to the electorate in 2002 to fight the vice.
LDP chairman David Musila said reports of the re-emergence of corruption in government "was hurting Narc earlier efforts to fight the monster of graft". "It appears to us that there is emerging once again the ugly head of corruption in the government particularly in procurement of goods and services," Musila charged. Musila said LDP was calling on the government to immediately arrest the steep descent of the nation into grand corruption.
And the LDP, a leading partner in the coalition, threatened to team up with the opposition parties to fight official corruption unless immediate action is taken against the vice.
The partys warning and the government statement come in the wake of a series of damaging revelations which culminated in the government being forced to halt a controversial Sh2.7 billion contract for new passports, pending investigations. The contract was exposed when it was learnt that the passport project whose initial cost was Sh800 million, had been expanded to Sh2.7 billion, and a tender awarded to a French firm without competitive bidding.
Already, two key permanent secretaries have been questioned by anti-corruption detectives investigating the scandal. They include Treasury PS Joseph Magari and Sylvester Mwaliko of Home Affairs. Also questioned was the Principal Immigration Officer, Mr Henry Ole Ndiema.
Vice-President Moody Awori, a leading member of the LDP, has defended the deal in Parliament, though there is some measure of agreement between MPs and the anti-corruption circles in government that the deal was corrupt.
Yesterday, Musila, in the company of a group of LDP MPs, said reports of corruption had led to public disillusionment and disenchantment with the government. He said it is important that the trend be nipped in the bud and reversed immediately.
The MPs who attended the news conference were Musila Joe Khamisi (Bahari), Otieno Kajwang (Mbita), Mutinda Mutiso (Kilome), Eric Nyamunga (Nyando), Peter Owidi (Kasipul), Prof Ayiecho Olweny (Muhoroni) and Ken Nyagudi (Kisumu Town West).
Musila said the re-emergence of corruption could be traced to last November with the alleged scandal of the Sh1.5 billion cranes tender at the Kenya Ports Authority. Then, Musila said, came the procurement of handcuffs from South Africa and more recently the Sh2.7 billion passports project scandal.