E-Clips:- Business Pictorial - Sacred Cows In Kibaki Govt Kill Graft Battle

Two years into the Narc leadership, not a single senior government official has been convicted of high-level corruption, and government critics are talking about sacred cows in the Kibaki Administration.

Especially worrying is the governments apparent inability to prosecute culprits in the Sh7 billion Anglo Leasing financial scandal, with Justice and Constitutional Affairs minister Kiraitu Murungi quoted last week dismissing the scam as "a scandal that never was".

On January 11, Japanese Ambassador Satoru Miyamura told Mr Murungi: "We are a bit dissatisfied with the implementation phase of the fight against corruption. There is no powerful person who has been prosecuted to date. I understand the measures the government has taken but clear results are important."

Mr Miyamura, whose country is a key donor to Kenya, had paid a courtesy call on the minister, who responded: "We have established the Kenya Anti Corruption Commission and other necessary laws. This year, Kenyans should expect action. We expect more arrests and we will be dealing with the corruption of the past more ruthlessly this year.

"But the constitutional power to prosecute rests with the AG and nobody, neither myself nor the President can direct him or control him. The AG will be expected to take a professional decision."

Mr Murungi said "this matter has been blown out of proportion; we are not talking about money that was lost. The money that would have been lost . . . which was paid out during the Kanu regime and in the Narc era, has all been returned."

However, National Council of Churches of Kenya general secretary Mutava Musyimi, Law Society of Kenya chairman Ahmednassir Abdullahi, Cotu deputy secretary general George Muchai, Federation of Kenya Employers executive director Gerishon Konditi, his International Federation of Women Lawyers (Fida) counterpart Jane Onyango, and Kenya National Union of Teachers secretary general Francis Nganga want to see renewed commitment to corruption fight.

Mr Omingo Magara, a past chairman of the parliamentary watchdog on public expenditure, the Public Accounts Committee, says the government has been compromised and Kenyans should not expect much in graft war.

"Dont expect the government to prosecute its ministers," Mr Magara said. "To the Cabinet, the maxim is that graft is there as long as it does not affect us. When it affects us its not graft; its a scandal that never was."

Kanu shadow Finance minister Billow Kerrow says there are "sacred cows" in the Kibaki government. Cabinet ministers, permanent secretaries as well as heads of parastatals enjoy patronage.

"There are people in the government who cannot be touched. They are sacred cows. They enjoy patronage from the top," said Mr Kerrow.

"Half the number of Cabinet ministers are corrupt. But they are sacred cows."

The MP laments that "when corruption happens at lower levels, people are charged. But not a single minister, permanent secretary or chief executive of a parastatal has been charged in any court of law.

"The government policy of zero tolerance to corruption is not there at all."

However, cabinet ministers Raila Odinga, Amos Kimunya and Najib Balala say there are no sacred cows in government.

"Corruption is one of the most difficult cases to pursue," says Mr Kimunya, the man in charge of Lands and Housing. "You need tangible evidence to take a suspect to court."

Mr Balala, a minister in the Office of the Vice-President, concurs: "You cannot have emotional arrests (of corruption suspects). We need to build up cases against them. Kenyans will see action this year."

Mr Balala does not think there are “untouchables” in the government. "There are no sacred cows in the Kibaki government, not one."

Mr Odinga (Roads and Public Works) says he has since tabled his ministrys graft report on pending bills – compiled by former Permanent Secretary Andrew Kiptoon – before the Cabinet. It has since been passed over to the Kenya Anti- Corruption Commission and the governments Efficiency Monitoring Unit "to analyse and make recommendations on the so-called “cowboy” contractors.

"I have done my bit," says Mr Odinga. "I have tabled the Kiptoon Report before the cabinet. It has been taken to the KACC and Efficiency Monitoring Unit. We want to deal with this (pending bills) once and for all. Genuine cases will be paid. The fake ones will be prosecuted and blacklisted.”

On his part, Mr Kimunya explains the governments cautious approach: "We need to be very careful. We do not want to haul to court everybody accused of corruption just to make a populist statement. We dont want to be embarrassed for lack of evidence."

He argues the governments commitment to fight corruption is evident. "People should appreciate we have set up institutions, like the Kenya Anti-Corruption Corruption Commission."

The government has the framework "not just to book criminals but to protect peoples rights. The fight against corruption is not just taking people to court but stopping money from getting lost. If we can close the stable before the horse has bolted, the better."

He says that in the Nyayo era the highest amount raised from stamp duty was Sh900 million. "We have now collected Sh1.4 billion. This shows corruption was going on but we have stopped it."

Mr Kimunya says the government has "a system" now dealing with the Anglo Leasing fraud, but "we dont want to disclose our traps to the enemy".

He says purging of the Judiciary and prosecution of high-profile corruption cases early in 2003 was just the beginning. "I believe there will be more coming. But there have to be tangible evidence against the suspects".

Law Society chief Abdullahi charged corruption in Kibaki government was "spreading like bush fire . . . The Narc government is a continuation of the Moi government. In the Moi governments strategy on corruption, there was too much speech and very little action. It is now a perpetuation of that strategy; too much talk, too much threat but no action."

High-level corruption in the government was to be expected, "as long as top officials retained from the Moi regime are in the Civil Service," Mr Abdulahi argues.

"Whereas there was a change in the executive where Kibaki replaced Moi, the entire public service remained the same. We had a very cosmetic change instead of what people thought, wrongly, was a revolution."

He does not expect President Kibaki to confront corruption the way people had expected. "Kibaki is an improvement of Moi but not the radical solution we thought he was. Nothing has changed. Only the top two people were replaced. We should not expect people to be arrested and convicted."

The LSK boss argues that "commitment is a state of mind; a mental element. The government may be committed mentally or psychologically, but if there is no action, strategy, concrete steps, that commitment remains just a commitment."

Mr Murungi has been quoted saying the fight against corruption was being frustrated by the culprits fighting back. "Corruption always fights back."

But Mr Abdullahi sees this as an excuse rather than a reason. "Corruption is not fighting back. Instead, corruption is mutating, spreading like bush fire, growing by the day."

However, he sees a ray of light at the end of the tunnel once the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission under Justice Aaron Ringera gets the resources and political goodwill.

"There is one hope. If Justice Ringera is given the logistics; financial and political resources he needs, and creates the institutions, I am sure the fight against corruption will go in the right direction.

"But as that happens, there will be a big limitation. When KACC investigates and recommends who is to be prosecuted, its the Attorney-General who makes the final decision. The gatekeeper in the fight against corruption is the AG. Will Kenyans respect the decision Amos Wako makes?"

He urges the President to "synchronise" commitment and action. "President Kibaki has shown a lot of commitment, but we have not seen action. The people who were retained from the Moi regime are doing a lot of corruption. And those who joined them have been absorbed."

The Law Society chief laments the government has no blueprint on the fight against corruption. "Its not the quantity of organisations fighting corruption, but the quality. The buck stops with President Kibaki. The success against corruption will be credited to him, the failure will be blamed on him. If the President wants to fight corruption, let him engage people of integrity. The purge in the system should not have been shelved. It should not have stopped with the Judiciary. You cannot have Kanu loyalists, who have been stealing for 20 years, to continue serving in the government".

"Kibakis balance sheet in the past two years is dismal. Thousands of scandals all over."

Mr Konditi, the FKE chief executive, believes the government is unable to take suspects to court because they are blocking investigations. "I dont think the government has been compromised. But the process of prosecuting suspects is too slow. The suspects are now taking the advantage to fight back.

"You cannot keep on talking about an animal destroying your crops and continue sitting at the edge of the farm doing nothing to stop it."

Mr Konditi wants the government to "act quickly" and prosecute those implicated in graft. "Justice Ringera and Mr Wako must be given a time limit to take people to court. Putting cases in suspense borders on injustice. Those mentioned in connection with corruption would also want to clear their names."

The Rev Musyimi concurs and says Justice Ringera must be seen to be working. "One can only hope Justice Ringera will do investigations and its up to the AG to prosecute. We just hope it will not be too long. By June, we ought to see sufficient activity.

"KACC is the heart of the fight against corruption. The relationship between KACC and the AG in regard to prosecution is crucial. The administration should absolutely be efficient. It is unwise to imagine that corruption does not fight back."

The Rev Musyimi is appalled at the Ndwiga stamp duty saga. "I am amazed such basic mistakes are happening in the first place. What else will happen?"

Cotus George Muchai attributes the governments failure to "lack of drive".

"It would seem Narc was simply giving lip-service for the purpose of getting to power. The government officials never had the drive to fight corruption. Theyll keep on telling us they are committed, until the next elections."

Mr Muchai says the government "has the machinery to tackle any obstacle in the fight against corruption. The argument that corruption fights back is a lame excuse."

Fidas Ms Onyango concurs: "The governments commitment in the fight against corruption leaves a lot to be desired. Legal issues about corruption take time. But things are not moving as fast as they should."

The State should move fast to prosecute high-profile cases. "Corruption should be confronted. The corrupt should be dealt with like criminals. But the government paints a picture as if it is scared."

Like Mr Abdullahi, Ms Onyango says the tempo applied in purging the Judiciary seems to have been lost. "We expected the tempo to be maintained. But we are disappointed. If they had maintained the momentum, things would have been different now."