By ALPHONCE SHIUNDU ashiundu@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Monday, December 26 2011 at 19:49
Posted Monday, December 26 2011 at 19:49
Integrity remains at the top of the country’s agenda as the quest for a new Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission rolls over into 2012.
An audit of the sleaze that occurred in the country over the past year exposes the need for a new credible commission to fight the vice.
This will be crucial, if Kenyans hope to realise even a fraction of the gains promised by devolution as enshrined in the Constitution.
But as the curtain comes down on the year 2011, the barons of corruption in government and their faithful cartels in the private sector, are counting their blessings. They reaped big this year.
They hounded the passionate graft-buster, Prof PLO Lumumba, out of office as they continued with their plunder.
Their footsteps are implanted in all the sectors of the economy, given that the shilling is weak; food is scarce and the little that is there is expensive; fuel prices are sky-high; businessmen have raised their prices, and consumers have to pay more for everything.
In 2011, it was a scandals galore involving ministers, assistant ministers and MPs. Many recorded statements with the anti-corruption commission as investigations ensued.
Investigating claims
There were Water minister Charity Ngilu and Tourism assistant minister Cecily Mbarire whose ministries raised a storm over graft claims.
The investigation into the Water scandals is on-going at Integrity House. Dr Naomi Shaaban, the minister for Gender was also grilled.
MP James Gesami was also grilled over the misappropriation of public funds sent to his West Mugirango Constituency under the CDF.
Only one Cabinet minister, Mr Henry Kosgey, quit his position and went to court to face charges of corruption. Mr Kosgey was charged in February with 11 counts of abuse of office.
It was alleged that he used his office to improperly confer a benefit to various individuals and companies by exempting 113 imported vehicles from the application of Kenya Bureau of Standards Code of Practice.
The government outlawed the importation of vehicles which are over eight years old except those for the government, diplomatic corps or those brought by returning citizens.
He has denied the charges, saying that he acted within the law and questioned the merit of the charges, arguing that his predecessors applied the same law but were not prosecuted.
The war on corruption suffered a dent when President Kibaki reinstated Foreign Affairs minister Moses Wetang’ula and permanent secretary Thuita Mwangi back to Cabinet.
The two had quit their offices to pave way for investigations into the outrageous Sh1.1 billion scandal in the purchase of an embassy in Japan.
That they were reinstated even before the investigations were concluded; and the fact that they had all vowed to occupy their positions after less than a year in the cold, is evidence enough that they left the office just to mollify the public.
In July this year, former Cabinet minister Chris Okemo and former boss of the Kenya Power and Lighting Company, Mr Samuel Gichuru, were sought in Jersey for fraud. The two are facing extradition following accusations of money-laundering and receiving bribes.
The extent of corruption in the Ministry of Lands was also laid bare when the government demolished houses, which it claimed, had been built on airport land in Syokimau near Nairobi.
The residents were shocked when their multi-billion homes were brought down after the government termed all their land ownership papers including a Kenya Gazette notice, issued by the ministry, “fake”.
That government officials could even manipulate the Lands Minister to issue a notice, and later disown it, means that the corruption cartels have deep roots in that crucial ministry.
An audit report also revealed that Sh300 million was embezzled from the ambitious, but poorly-executed Kazi kwa Vijana Programme — meant to create jobs for the young men — in its first year.
That Kenyans are paying for the sins of the country’s greedy and corrupt politicians and ministers came to the fore with the news that the government was refunding Sh2.4 billion of money that was siphoned from the Kenya Education Sector Support Programme.MPs called for the resignation of the Prime Minister, Mr Raila Odinga, who has been the champion of the World Bank-sponsored programme. But the PM said the individual public officers who stole public money should carry their own cross.
Sit-ins and protests in the streets all calling for the resignation of Education minister Sam Ongeri did not bear any fruit.
The brazen mandarins at Kenya’s Treasury also recorded their names in the books of fraud when they allocated Sh1.2 billion for the payment of KenRen fertiliser factory — which was never built — even after Parliament’s unanimous decision that the payments be stopped, because the country was being conned.
The shameless inclusion was in the 2011-2012 Budget under the External Debt Redemption, in which the government is set to pay Sh372 million to the Austrian firm Bawag, this financial year. The amount will rise to Sh404 million in 2013 and Sh437 in 2014.
This year, it also emerged that the contractors working on projects at the Ministry of Defence were colluding with some senior officers to unnecessarily vary prices of projects.
Case in point was the Sh250 million increase above the Sh1.5 billion price for the modernisation of Laikipia Airbase.
The scandalous theft of public funds by officers at the City Council of Nairobi, when they inflated the price of land by over Sh250 million, also played out in court.
Though the scandal occurred last year, the fact that it is playing out in court, sends the right signals that the barons of corruption may pretend that they can run from the law, but time and the law, always catches up with them. The matter is still pending in court.
The shocker came when it emerged that two companies — Proctor &Allan and Sai Millers — had distributed contaminated food to starving Kenyans even after being paid with money contributed by poor Kenyans to save their kin, who the government had ignored.
This was exposed, the said firms apologized, and the food was recalled. It was not immediately clear how many Kenyans were affected by such a scandal, but an audit by the Public Health officials is under way.
The corruption barons and their cartels hoarded maize and maize flour; sugar, dollars and fuel, to an extent that the prices of these commodities shot up.
They are the reason why some Kenyans, many of them formerly the middle-class, slid back into poverty and missed out on the merry-making that accompanies the festive season.
But it was not all doom and gloom. The anti-corruption commission in its audit of the 2010-2011 year said it “disrupted a possible loss of Sh1.51 billion” of taxpayers’ money.
The body says it has concluded investigations on cases involving Sh1.6 billion and that it is still investigating more cases involving Sh6.8 billion of public funds. The cases in court have to do with a total of Sh12.5 billion of taxpayers’ money.
As we go into next year, the hope is that the imbroglio surrounding the officers at the EACC will be sorted out and a new team full of zealous, passionate and untainted individuals will crush corruption networks
.
.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment