The 42-member cabinet use their positions to line their own pockets
- “The Embassy strongly believes Mr. Amos Wako has engaged in and benefited from public corruption in his capacity as Attorney General for the past 18 years by interference with judicial and other public processes.”
- “Kosgey is … accused of looting the real estate assets of former parastatal Kenya National Assurance Company (KNAC) when he served as its director from 1989 to 1992…
Corruption is in no short supply in Africa. But in Kenya, the problem is particularly virulent, US dispatches show. Indeed, several government ministers are deeply involved in shady deals. That, though, may soon change.
The man is small and eloquent. More than anything, though, he is determined, which makes him seem bigger than he is. His name is Patrick Lumumba, a former lawyer who is currently stirring up the powers that be in Kenya. Some careers he is cutting short, others he is giving a boost. And he would seem to have no fear.
Death threats, murder, disappearances — people aren’t squeamish in Kenya when economic interests are at stake. And those who seek to combat corruption in the country cannot show any weakness either.
Since July, Lumumba has been the director of the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC). Whereas his predecessor seemed more interested in protecting those in power, Lumumba has shown a tendency to crack down. In the space of just a few days, the Kenyan foreign minister, the education minister, a state secretary and the mayor of the Kenyan capital Nairobi were forced to step down.
No wonder. Lumumba’s office is convinced that there is hardly a single minister in the country’s bloated, 42-member cabinet, that doesn’t use their position to line their own pockets.
Kenya ‘s Kleptocrats
The US Embassy in Nairobi has long been monitoring the Kenyan kleptocrats — particularly given the central role that Kenya plays in African politics. Those on the take in the government often trigger famines and instigate unrest, which then must be mitigated with Western aid money. As such, diplomats have drawn up a list of the worst offenders. Fifteen high-ranking Kenyan officials have been banned from entering the US.
During the 24 years that Daniel arap Moi was president of Kenya, between 1978 and 2002, the entire body politic was gripped by a system of personal enrichment and corruption. Despite the fact that dozens of investigative commissions have thrown light on hundreds of cases of corruption, not a single minister has ever been convicted.
In the early 1990s, for example, as part of the so-called “Goldenberg Scandal,” the Kenyan government paid export subsidies to Goldenberg International and other companies for gold that was supposedly slated for export. In truth, however, the Goldenberg funds were ultimately used to finance three election campaigns, causing losses estimated at between €400 million and €3 billion. Another pilfering of state coffers came with the so-called “Anglo-Leasing Scandal,” a package of crooked and shady transactions that were also used to stuff private pockets — at a cost to the country of hundreds of millions.
A Corrupt Top Cop
Amos Wako, Kenya’s attorney general for the last 19 years, makes an appearance on America’s black list. According to US Embassy dispatches, Wako is largely responsible for the fact that no politician has ever been seriously taken to task for graft-related activities. Wako was originally appointed to the position by President Moi, but he held onto his office due to his excellent relationship with the country’s current president, Mwai Kibaki. And he shouldn’t expect much in the way of favors from the US.
In early September 2009, Ambassador Michael Ranneberger put together a dossier for the State Department on the Kenyan attorney general.
In the document classified as “secret” Ranneberger writes: “The Embassy strongly believes Mr. Amos Wako has engaged in and benefited from public corruption in his capacity as Attorney General for the past 18 years by interference with judicial and other public processes.” The reports shed light on a clear pattern whereby the Kenyan judiciary invariably sought to protect those who had embezzled public money.
Even following the unrest that afflicted Kenya in early 2008 in the immediate wake of the contested presidential election, which saw 1,300 people killed in battles between rival ethnicities and hundreds of thousands driven from their homes, it was business as usual for Wako: Not a single one of the masterminds was convicted of any wrongdoing.
According to a US dispatch on the matter: “One can find an Attorney General who has successfully maintained an almost perfect record of non-prosecution. He accomplishes this through the most complex of smoke and mirrors tactics, seeking to appear to desire prosecution while all along doing his utmost to protect the political elites.”
Other Top Officials on the Take
The US diplomats’ opinion of Aaron Ringera, Lumumba’s predecessor as head of the nation’s anti-corruption agency, is similarly scathing. In a dossier assembled by embassy workers on him on Sept. 16, 2009, it says that: “Under Ringera’s leadership, the Anti-Corruption Commission has actively participated in a system that works to discourage investigation, minimize the likelihood of prosecution, and throw out court cases that appear to have a chance of taking down senior government officials. Like the Attorney General, Ringera can claim a perfect record of not investigating and convicting a single Kenyan government official. This is a remarkable tally in a country that is consistently ranked among the most corrupt in the world.”
Yet another figure the Americans would like to see ushered off the political stage or put behind bars is Henry Kosgey, Kenya’s current minister of industrialization. Kosgey is a long-time veteran of Kenya’s political scene: He has held a seat in parliament on and off since 1987, he was head of Kenya’s national insurance company until it went bust on his watch, and he has held positions as the minister of science and technology and as the minister for education. At the moment, he is involved in a scandal involving imported cars.
The dispatch includes references to unsubstantiated accusations against him: “Kosgey is … accused of looting the real estate assets of former parastatal Kenya National Assurance Company (KNAC) when he served as its director from 1989 to 1992…. By illegally appropriating KNAC’s most valuable assets, Kosgey reduced the company to an undercapitalized shell that ultimately collapsed…. As a result of the collapse of KNAC, 900 employees lost their jobs and thousands of Kenyans from all walks of life lost their pensions or did not receive insurance payments upon the deaths of beneficiaries.”
‘Participated in Incitement’
Yet another dispatch fingers Kosgey as one of the masterminds of the violent unrest following the 2007 presidential elections: The dispatch says that a report compiled on that violence “alleged that Kosgey participated in incitement, planning, and illegal financing of post-election violence in and around his rural constituency … in the Rift Valley province…. Many workers and their families … fled or were driven out of the area during the post-election violence.”
Kosgey has also reportedly cost the United States a great deal of money: “Kosgey’s diverse corruption activites over decades have negatively impacted US foreign assistance goals in a number of ways. His continuing ownership of illegally transferred forest lands, part of the greater Mau Forest which comprises Kenya’s largest water catchment area, has contributed to ethnic conflict over land ownership in the Rift Valley, and has also contributed to deforestation and resulting drought and hunger that currently plagues Kenya. Donors, including the United States, have had to provide billions of dollars in emergency food aid to Kenya over the last four years of chronic drought.”
Ministers like Kosgey and his ilk were long able to go about their business without much to worry about. That, though, looks as though it is changing. Lumumba says that he is currently pursuing investigations into four ministers and 45 other officials in semi-public office.
About the Author
Wikileaks, is a eye openner to those who thinks that the so called internatioanal community are true friends or not.Though some of the information leaked is 80% truth.We need a new blood in the office of Attorney General who will not be intmidated, but will do his/her job based on the conviction within him/herself who should face the justice irrespective of the suspects station in the society.
Corruption and Kenya’s Presidents:
Unfortunately, corruption has played a role with all 3 Kenyan presidents up to now.
•Jomo Kenyatta
He was the first president of Kenya after independence in 1963. During colonialism, the European colonizers had stolen fertile lands from, among others, the Kalenjin tribe. After the independence (in 1963), Kenyatta did not return those lands to the former owners, but handed it over to members of his own clan and tribe (the Kikuyu). Kenyatta himself became one of the largest private land owners in the country.
•Daniel arap Moi
During Daniel arap Moi’s presidency – Kenya’s second president – corruption was widespread and involved Moi himself on many occasions. In the 1990s, he was part of the Goldenberg scandal, where smuggled gold was exported out of Kenya in exchange for high government subsidies. It’s one of the largest corruption scandals to date in Kenya, which involved nearly the entire Moi government. Many officials from the Central Bank, and more than 20 senior judges have also been implicated. As of 2008, only a small handful of people been charged with a criminal offense, which some see as an example of the continuing problem of corruption and favoritism.
•Mwai Kibaki
The third president, Mwai Kibaki, was elected in 2002 mainly on the promise to end corruption in Kenya once and for all. Admittedly, there have been quite some improvements in the country (among them press freedom, return of elections and introduction of free and compulsory primary education for all) but corruption had remained a big issue. To start with, his administration consists largely of Kikuyu, while this tribe is only 22 percent of the Kenyan population. From 2003 to 2006, Kibaki’s cabinet spent 14 million dollars on new Mercedes cars for themselves. In late 2008, several members of Kibaki’s parliament were found to have taken large “allowances”, which were not legally part of their official compensation. And Kibaki falsified the results of the 2007 election, leading to riots.
Kiraitu Murungi was suspended as Energy Minister in Kibaki’s first government. He still sits in the current Cabinet.
George Saitoti was also suspended as Education Minister during Kibaki’s first government. He was also heavily connected in the Goldenberg scandal during Moi’s rule as Finance Minister. He is still a minister in the Coalition government.
William Ruto is currently suspended while facing court charges for massive theft involving illegally acquired property. He was also adversely mentioned early this year in the shocking maize scandal. President Kibaki refused to respect PM Raila’s call to suspend him then.
Foreign Affairs Minister Moses Wentangula was recently suspended for alleged massive corruption in his ministry concerning inflated prices noted in the purchase of various properties abroad for Kenyan embassies.
As the Education Minister, Prof Ongeri was mentioned in the massive cash losses and other serious forms of corruption this year, but President Kibaki refused to respect the call by PM Raila to suspend him.
The Industrialization Minister Henry Kosgey is under probe for importing hundreds of second hand cars older than the legally allowed limit of eight years.
Water Minister Charity Ngilu is suspected of having favored companies linked to one of her daughters and other relatives by awarding them tenders to supply various materials for her ministry.
Immigration Minister Kajwang’ is alleged to have let his officers supply passports and work permits to foreigners without following the proper channels.
Medical Services Minister Anyang’ Nyong’o is suspected of nepotism while employing officers in his ministry.
Massive cash losses meant for assisting the internally displaced persons were incurred in the Special Programmes Ministry while headed by Naomi Shaaban. Nothing has happened and she was simply switched to another ministry.
It is hoped that the Anti Corruption Authority under Professor Lumumba will probe all the Cabinet Ministers and take serious legal action against the guilty ones.. It is a crying shame to be led by such corrupt leaders.
When ills are pointed out in the soceity those who are guitly will try to find all means to justify themselves. I agree most of the information about wikileans about Kenya is true. Our leaders ought to think twice before making alarming statements about envoys.
Why are politicians fighting Renneburger for pointing out on corruption that Kenya is so famous about? Is it because the President and Prime Minister have been mentioned as tolerating impunity?
“The Kenyan government has said it could be losing nearly one-third of the national budget to corruption. Finance ministry officials told a parliamentary committee the losses could be nearly $4bn (£2.5bn) a year.
They said individuals were taking huge sums meant for development projects. Analysts say many Kenyans will be surprised not by the news of the losses, but by the fact the admission has come from such senior officials.
Kitu kidogo – the Swahili for “something small” – is how the kickbacks are commonly described in Kenya.
Taking 10% of an awarded tender or inflating project costs are said to be the commonest means of dipping into government coffers.”
By Kevin Mwachiro, BBC
Wikiliki zimeliki lakini wanasiasa hawajakliki
Kenyans complain about how they suffer because of corruption everyday so why should the government be angry with Ambassador Renneberger and Wikileaks for revealing the same? Long live the Internet and Wikileaks!!
A message to Kenyans who are ignorants Proff Lumumba cannot and will never fight corruption in Kenya (mark these words) because the President and Coy Protects thieves,drugwarlords in Kenya ie Economical criminals together with their locals ,organized cartels ,within the country and Overseas work and finace their illegal trade under the wotchful (eye) from the Office of the President and Security chiefs .
Courts ,Prosecutors ,Lawyers are toothless Hence Judges are hand-picked and selected . Proff Lumumba could fight corruption but however he tries his hands will always be tied and at the end of the day he will leave and another Lackey will replace him.
While WikiLeaks named Kenya “A Swamp of Corruption”, Nigeria is “A Cesspool of Corruption”. Nigeria’s oil wealth is never invested in the country, but in the hands of a few greedy politicians and military bosses. No wonder oil is seen as a curse.
Given such a scenario, many countries in Africa will remain poor for many years. Kenyan politicians have been making noise since the revelations of corruption by WikiLeaks, and continue condemning Ambassador Ranneberger, yet the truth is they are very corrupt.
Sections of the Nigeria Report:
Complaints coming from Western oil companies are bitter. At a meeting with the US Africa envoy, Johnnie Carson, in Lagos last February, oil executives criticized the “amateur technocrats” who are in charge of the oil and gas business on the Nigerian side. The managers said that Nigerian politicians believe that deep-sea drilling would earn them no money. Partners from banks and the business world did not understand the business, they said. The government in Abuja, they added, had collected $2.5 billion dollars in revenue over the previous two years, but had not made any investments in return.
At another meeting, an ExxonMobil manager reported that companies had to calculate for a loss of around 40 percent for oil transport via overland pipelines in the country — a result of oil thieves. It was more efficient to import refined oil from Europe than to process it in Nigeria itself, he said. The police charged with protecting the pipelines seemed primarily concerned with coordinating the pilfering and letting potential thieves know where they could steal the oil.
One dispatch from Washington reads: “Nigeria’s four state-owned refineries have an installed capacity of 445,000 barrels per day. They have a history of fire, sabotage, poor management, lack of turn-around maintenance, and corruption. These elements have limited refinery output to 40 percent of capacity or less.”
In January 2009, one oil executive complained that the already bad situation had gotten worse. Widespread attacks by pirates had led to tanker shipping companies only accepting contracts under certain conditions, she said. Nigerian government officials apparently responded by telling her: “Hire more security.”
Another oil company protested that high-ranking Nigerians demanded millions in bribes for rights to load tankers. In addition, a top Nigerian prosecutor told a visitor that “he would sign a document only if the visitor paid $2 million immediately and another $18 million the next day.”
Given the corruption, multinationals in Nigeria find themselves involved in deals that are likely unique in the oil industry. A report dated March 2009 states that “Shell and Total recently revealed they were forced to loan their Nigerian partners billions of dollars at well below market rates to support ongoing joint venture operations.”
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,733880,00.html
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Thanks for those links. All I can say is wow!!!!It’s amazing what goes down there.
Here’s my take on just one cable leak – the confidential dosssier on drug trafficking (which Okhunyanye has started filtering above).
I frankly think this particular wikileak dossier puts the life of Magistrate Aggrey Muchelule at risk (at the hands of the ruthless drug cartels) because it portrays him ‘talking’ to the diplomats about shoddy police investigations and shoddy prosecution from AG’s chambers. Drug traffickers can’t stand snitches.
It is also easy to deduce that former DPP, Philip Murgor, and former Mandera E MP Billow Kerrow, are both informants to the US Embassy. Whether they are also protected by the same is the question. I hope they are!
The leak also exposes the significant nexus the US intelligence places between a sitting Minister of Transport (in charge of Ports) and drug trafficking. They note Murungaru’s reassignment to the Transport Ministry during the height of major trafficking.
Can I remind you the current Transport Minister is Amos Kimunya – the one who, no sooner had assumed the position, had replaced the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) and Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) bosses with his tribal lackeys. KAA and KPA are the two major gateways for drugs into Kenya.
In a nutshell, US intelligence gathered that the drug cartel of Akasha (previously protected by certain operatives of the Moi government) was extinguished upon Kibaki’s election in 2002, by new upstart cartels of wakina Juja MP, William Kabogo (then protected by cabinet ministers like Chris Murungaru).
Kabogo and his brothers own a Cargo-Port-Warehouse-Trans-shipment company, the perfect infrastructure and logistic base for drug trafficking. US Intelligence says Kabogo is ‘rich-far-beyond-visible-means’.
The protection within police (esp. under Commissioner Gen. Ali and CID boss Kamau), within the AG chambers (prosecution office) and within courts was/is amazing. The police-ring-protection network was probably organized during Chris Murungaru’s tenure as Internal Security Minister. Even ordinary MPs are incorporated as allies. This drug industry has taken a life of its own under Kibaki’s tenure.
US intelligence thinks that seized cocaine shipment of 2004 (the largest ever in Africa) was Kabogo’s. They also say the latter was able to retrieve it (despite its being in police custody). And as soon as he did – we started reading all those arrests of Kenya Airways hostesses and crew at Heathrow Airport for drug trafficking.
US attributes the murder of former KPA DCIO Hassan Abdillahi on Kabogo’s brothers, the former being suspected by British Intelligence, as having been allied to the Akasha cartel.
Looks also that there’s a lot of intelligence-sharing between the British and the US, at the ground level in Nairobi, and it looks like the former are the ones who first put a finger on the lid exposing Murungaru’s role in Kenya’s drug trade. It’s no wonder the Brits were the first to ban Murungaru from stepping their soil.
This is yet another of Kibaki’s legacy to Kenya…peak drug trafficking endangering our youth!!!
I believe that the corruption scandal infections in Kenya and other Black countries (including black west indies) is nothing compared to that of Nigeria alone whose treasury gets/had been looted by the most hideous human creatures ever in History on the basis of the collapse of public services in that country. Nigeria much more than any country in the World deserves the grammys, nobel prize, pulitzer prize and countless other accolades altogether for rampant corruption.
Bravo Nigeria, Bravo.
Kibaki’s regime is the most rotten one in Kenya’s history. A reminder of the “Githongo’s Cables”:
On the 29th June 2004, I met with Hon Kiraitu at his office. Essentially he said that it was now clear that Anglo-Leasing was “us” – our people. He said that no matter what, he did not have what it took to order or countenance the arrest of Chris Murungaru for corruption because “they had too much history”.
He was blunt and emotional. He admitted that people like Murungaru were key to the transanctions of Anglo-Leasing and that even though he personally did not have details, the excuse given to him was that the money was needed for political fundraising.
On 1st September 2004, Hon Kiraitu called on me and shared with me his concerns that at the rate we were going “we would have another Goldenberg type scandal before the elections” in 2007 because of the need to fundraise for the elections. He said that once one’s pig got stuck in the mud, one had to jump in and get dirty to extract the pig from the mud and someone would get stuck in the mud themselves. He said that infact, there would be another Goldenberg style commission and all of us would be “suspects” or “witnesses” at it.
It was a very surprising admission from Kiraitu about corruption and “us”. The next day Hon Kiraitu Murungi and I had a long meeting about political party financing. I expressed to him my disquiet at the contradiction caused by the fact that we were fighting corruption on one side and this fight was in direct contradiction in the supposedly “resource mobilisation” efforts of people like Hon Murungaru and others.
In our discussion of political party funding with Hon Kiraitu Murungi, he admitted Anglo-Leasing and other such deals were essentially part of “resource mobilisation” carried out essentially by Hon Murungaru and Alfred Gitonga. He repeated his fear that he expected another Goldenberg type scandal to be generated from our struggle to hold together the coalition.
Both implicitly and explicitly, he had indicated his Excellency the President knew all about these shenanigans.
January 20 2005
Once again, they (Kiraitu and Murungaru) were clear that the security related projects that were the subject of so much controversy were for political financing purposes all along. Hon Kiraitu and Hon Murungaru demonstrated no concern that I would report this matter back to His Excellency the President. The evidence had been building up but with this final approach, they let their guard down. By coming to me knowing full well I had direct access to the President meant they were not at all worried that I “would report them to the President”.
Hon Murungaru pointed out that His Excellency the President had once been Minister of Finance and “understood how these things were done.”
The Cabinet ministers can deny the WikiLeaks report about corruption and demonize Ambassador Ranneberger as much as they want, but was this not the same message from the former British High Commissioner, Edward Clay a few years ago, that Kenya’s top government officials eat and puke on the shoes of donors?
President Kibaki is the architect of grand corruption because he condones impunity. He was Kenya’s Finance Minister under Presidents Kenyatta and Moi, when so much thieveing was done. Kenyatta gave birth to corruption and anybody who opposed him was dealt with accordingly, just as the late Jaramogi Odinga and JM Kariuki.
Many years later, Kibaki appointed Githongo as his anti-corruption boss to report directly all suspected dealings in the Government. Interestingly, Githongo had to flee for fear of his life, when he unearthed one of the worst financial scandals ever in Kenya’s history.
Current Energy Minister Kiraitu Murungi had then admitted to Githongo that Kibaki was aware of all the corrupt acts by his ministers, because he had once been a long-serving finance minister, who knew the game of milking the Treasury.
More on Githongo Cables: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/09_02_06_kenya_report.pdf
Charity Ngilu leads one of the most corrupt ministries in the country.
Shocking revelations of embezzlement of public funds in the ministry of water came to fore on Thursday with a private supplier denying having received payment for services rendered to the National Water Corporation to the tune of 430 million shillings.
However, the National Water Corporation claims to have cleared the bills before fire gutted its Nairobi offices in December 2009.
Armed with voluminous documents, the corporation’s main supplier appeared before the Musyimi led commission to refute claims by the corporation that he had been paid the pending bills dating back to 2006.
The Elburgon stores proprietor Stephen Ndung’u also protested against claims that he may have been involved in the fire incident that destroyed vital documents at the offices based in Nairobi’s South C.
The supplier has since sued the corporation for declining to pay the bills, claiming that water minister Charity Ngilu was frustrating his payment pleas.
In a report tabled in parliament by the minister the corporation had claimed to have settled the bills.
This came even as Tanathi Water Services Board admitted that it has a debt of 382 million shillings in pending bills to various companies which cannot be accounted for.
55 million shillings out of the amount is owed to the Kenya Revenue Authority which has issued the board with an urgency notice.
Tanathi Water Services Board CEO Nicholas Muthui shocked the parliamentary committee on land and natural resources when the admitted to malpractices in the board he inherited. Engineer Muthui blamed his predecessor for the rot that is now threatening to sink the water board.
Committee chairman Gachoka MP Rev. Mutava Musyimi vowed that the legislators will not rest until they get to the bottom of the water ministry scandals.
http://www.kbc.co.ke/news.asp?nid=69290
Ngilu is corrupt to the bone:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44hS0hDULKk&NR=1