Sally Kosgei: No kind words for Kalonzo, Uhuru

By Standard ReporterWhen Sally Kosgey met top US envoys she badmouthed the President, Prime Minister, Vice-President, and other Cabinet colleagues in a scale hitherto unreported by Wikileaks about a Kenyan official. Kenya's former High Commissioner to London, retired President Moi's last Head of Civil Service and Secretary to Cabinet dismissed Kibaki as a President who did not read Intelligence briefs.
She said Prime Minister Raila Odinga was a strong candidate to succeed Kibaki, but was let down by poor management and organisational skills. To her Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka, with whom she is in New York lobbying the UN to defer Kenya’s cases at The Hague, fears the shadow of Justice Minister, Mutula Kilonzo, who he thinks is out to eclipse him. He dismissed Uhuru Kenyatta as ‘lazy’ and Mutula as a ‘windbag’.
The minister, seen as one with the best command of the working of Government, is also reported to have accused the Director-General of National Intelligence Service as one who had abdicated his responsibility and preoccupied himself with tracking the Orange Democratic Movement.
Snippets of Dr Kosgey’s conversation in 2009 with US Ambassador Michael Ranneberger and Assistant Secretary of State Johnnie Carson, while she was Higher Education minister, were leaked yesterday by the whistleblower.
The leakages of secret US diplomatic cables have shocked governments across the world. The Western Press would likely headline Kosgey’s leaked secrets as ‘Salacious Sally’ or ‘Caught with pants down’.
But in the Kenyan context, where ministers’ private thoughts on his or her bosses and colleagues are inaccessible, these phrases may, however, be treated as scandalous and disrespectful of her status.
But given the way she described them, as told in Ranneberger’s cables, one could also argue she, too, was ‘disrespectful’ to those she talked about to the envoy. However, there are those who may argue her opinions about her Cabinet colleagues may not be off the mark.
But one thing is clear though: once the lid was blown off what she told the Americans through their envoy, the other bigwigs who met Ranneberger and his field officers who work like intelligence chiefs, must be living in the fear what they said to them may be next on the WikiLeaks pipeline.
Mr Carson, too, is a former diplomat, who served the US in Kenya under President Moi, when Kosgei was a top State official. When the WikiLeaks saga broke it was he who called Kibaki and Raila to apologise over the unsavoury reports he said they were expected to get from US missions.
Kosgei’s fate follows that of Kalonzo who was reported by the envoy as claiming the President was literally sleeping on the job, with the exclamation this could have been because of the drugs "they were giving him".
He also, the cables reported, sought former US President George Bush’s hand in asking Kibaki to step aside for him on health grounds. The exit would have allowed Kalonzo to ‘inherit’ the Kikuyu vote, which Kibaki commands. The official position of the Government on the cables is that they are hearsay, unreliable, and unbelievable. Kalonzo dismissed the cables on his meeting with Ranneberger as driven by
"Wild imagination".
National security
Intelligence briefs are built on issues NSIS believes the President ought to know because of their bearing on national security. The Director-General, who advises the Head of State on national security, usually hands the briefs to the President, daily.
They also contain secretly intercepted information that may be useful to the President in the running of Government. She described NSIS as led by a man (Gichangi) with no energy, and who was busy picking up reports of emerging popular discontent and plans to disrupt public rallies with violent protests.
"Gichangi is more interested in collecting information on ODM leaders than issues of national importance," the cables quote her, as saying. She says Kibaki agreed to reforms in principal, but was held back because he was beholden to the corrupt interests of his inner circle.
Even though she starts by saying she believed Raila truly wanted to achieve the reform agenda, she adds the PM does not have the "discipline" to achieve his desired results.
"Raila has no office structure, no discipline in his life or schedule," commented the minister, who when she later fell out with PM described the ministerial flag as a rag that clears the way for one in a traffic jam.
The cable says Kosgei quoted PM’s advisor Salim Lone as observing Raila, "has made it this far in politics by the force of his personality."
She said though Odinga’s advisors were well intentioned, most of them do not have Government experience.
She added Raila was unwilling to sack corrupt deputies, and was then overly focused on protocol issues and ODM inclusion in appointment decisions. Kosgei said Raila often agreed to meet with ministers late at night, when he was tired and unfocused, and named ODM Chief Whip Jakoyo Midiwo, Eldoret North MP, William Ruto and his wife Ida as advisors.
"Kosgei stated that Odinga, despite his flaws, remains the strongest candidate in a crowded field thanks to strong opposition credentials and an accessible personality," cabled the envoy. On Kalonzo, Kosgei is said to have described him as "a diminishing asset" who continually frets that he could be overshadowed by Mutula. She also referred to Mutula as a ‘windbag’ who does not have the stamina to take on the vested interests of the current regime.
The only politician Kosgei described positively is Gichugu MP Martha Karua, who she says is an ally in reform "who fell into the trap of believing that Kibaki actually sought to reform the Judiciary".
Kosgei said the alliance blossoming then between Uhuru and Ruto was an "artifact" of Waki Commission. "Ruto, in Kosgei’s view, is working with Uhuru to block key reforms and scuttle the Waki Commission’s call for a local tribunal to investigate post-election violence.
But she expects Ruto will abandon Uhuru if he stumbled or is no longer useful," reads the cable. She expressed doubt that Kikuyu voters in Central and Kalenjin voters in Rift Valley would be willing to set aside the violence suffered at each others’ hands to form a coalition for the 2012 General Election.
Lacking skills
Kosgei noted that laziness and "a very hands-off approach" to running the Ministry of Finance hinder Uhuru. The minister also describes Internal Security Minister George Saitoti as a politician who lacks skills to run for president.
She also assesses as Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi as lacking energy and money to challenge Ruto. Returning to the working relationship of Kibaki and Raila, Kosgei said the two principals have no challenge in reaching agreements on issues, but are incapable of advancing reforms.
She agreed the Head of the Civil Service Francis Muthaura had accumulated inordinate control over Government functions.
Speaking in 2009 while the acrimony over the 2007 disputed presidential election was still fresh, the minister said former Police Commissioner Hussein Ali did them a favour during the violence by cordoning off ODM strongholds. She said Ali never used to take calls from ODM ministers.