Representation on the inclusion of payments out of the Consolidated Fund to an Austrian Bank ostensibly related to the defunct Ken Ren Chemical and Fertiliser Company factory project
Wednesday 22nd June, 2011
Main Conference Room, County Hall, NairobiKENYA
Honourable Members,
This year Payments to Austria Bawag Bank related to the failed Ken Ren Chemical and Fertiliser Factory project of the 1970s have again been factored into the Budget see Consolidated Fund Services Estimates 2011-2012 at p.16 (attached and as follows)
• 2011/2 = Ksh 372,357,514
• 2012/3 = Ksh 404,709,457
• 2013/4 = Ksh 437,321,723
The Ministry of Finance has made provisions to pay Ksh 1,214,388,694 for a non existent factory this financial year. That the factory is non-existent is well established by the MP for Changamwe where it was supposed to be situated – see Ken Ren Chaani Hansard of 23rd February 2011 statement by Ramadhan Kajembe (attached).
But worse still, Kenya has paid huge sums for this undelivered project in the past. Between 2003 and 2009 the C&AG states the country paid Ksh 2.3 billion for this non existent factory. Thus in the Controller and Auditor General Report 2008 – 2009 (attached) – see page 18 and 19 – the C& AG says
“A review of the two debts in June 2009 showed that a total of Kshs.2,371,887,138.05 made up of principal and interest amounts of Kshs.1,639,409,203.95 and Kshs.732,477,934.10 respectively, had been paid as at 30 June 2009. However, and as observed in the preceding paragraphs, no fertilizer factory had been constructed, thus making the entire expenditure of Kshs.2,371,887,138.05 nugatory.”
This sort of impunity is not new to Treasury – another example is their complete refusal (since April 21st 2011) to provide a requested statement on the tax accounts to Hon John Mbadi – see attached extracts of the Hansard of the National Assembly “Status of the Tax Revenue Account at Treasury”
Mwalimu Mati
Mars Group
Wednesday 22nd June 2011
About the Author
The blue eyed boy of the ‘–duly elected’ president of Kenya has done so before, has done so now and will do so in future because he knows he is protected. Imagine what he would do should he squeeze thru’ the ICC net and ascend to the presidency. It’s high time the citizens resort to tackling such issues in the streets as this govt is totally insensitive to their plight. At least they can forget the hunger pangs in the frenzy.
Nothing strange. Uhuru is just part of the thieving section of the Kikuyu elite. KSB has been consistent in attacking Uhuru for his thieving nature ever since he was appointed Finance Minister. Imagine KenRen, a dead company from the 1970s being allocated money in 2011/2012? Am afraid the GEMA elite is gonna empty the Treasury before Uhuru goes to jail in The Hague. Another KES one billion has also been allocated to Thika Highway whose completion is delayed. Why this road and not many others that need funding? Read below the KenRen scandal that was connected to the era of Kibaki as then Finance Minister.
Corruption in Kenya
From: George Obare
Kenya Corruption – The role of Kibaki
When John Githongo complained about high-level corruption, a senior Cabinet Minister allegedly reminded him that President Mwai Kibaki was too experienced a politician to be worried about the Anglo Leasing scandal. Little did Githongo know that Kibaki was not new to witnessing, or being at the centre of, Anglo-Leasing style financial deals. These involve phantom project proposals and tendering processes that later leave the public coffers empty and the public yawning for answers.
Although most projects initiated by the Government over the last three decades were aimed at finding lasting solutions to poverty, most of them ended up being white elephants after huge sums were paid out. In the early 1970s when President Kibaki was the Finance and Planning minister, two of the most prominent scandals of the time, were recorded and are yet to be resolved. In 1972, Kenya faced a crippling drought and a serious shortage of foreign currency, which as it was later to emerge, became the cash cow for some well-placed government officials, mostly in the Treasury. When the Government hived-off 11.5 acres of land from the Kenya Veterinary Department and allocated it to a private company called Halal Meat Processing Products Limited in 1973, parliamentarians raised hue and cry.
“This land has been given away to a few individuals who are only out to enrich themselves and without consultations with the Maasai. This is tribalism being done with the Governments knowledge,” said John Konchellah, who was the Narok West MP at the time. The land transfer from the Veterinary Department to the private holder in 1973, which took only 21 days, was the first step in the multi-million shillings scandal. Mohammed Ali Modha, a butcher, who operated a joint business with the late Abdul Habib Adam at Adams Arcade, Nairobi, wanted to expand his business but said he did not have enough money to finance the expansion.
Treasury Permanent Secretary Leonard Kibinge then assigned an assistant secretary to study Modhas proposal. Modhas story, reminds one of Kamlesh Pattni, whose project to raise $50 million annually, through the Goldenberg International, flopped.
The butcher told Treasury that he had Sh1.5m and wished to get Sh5m from the EADB to invest in his abattoir. The Treasury passed the plan to the Ministry of Agriculture then headed by Jeremiah Nyagah for further feasibility studies, to determine whether the project was viable. The Ministry of Agriculture inflated the cost of the project to Sh9.6m.
The country was at the time experiencing meat shortage and drought. The minister revoked a waiver of the Kenya Meat Commission (KMC) Act. When the Ministry of Agriculture finished evaluating the Modha blueprint and gave its findings to the Treasury, the Government immediately signaled that funds were available for the project. The money came from the Danish Foreign Aid Agency. In August 1974, Treasury drafted a loan agreement and a State counsel, who is said to have overlooked flaws in the loan agreement, approved it. Modhas Sh27m project got the nod. Treasury gave out £500,000.
“I think the time has come for Kenyans to be told the truth. What happened was the result of nothing else other than corruption, which has now matured into destruction,” says former Butere MP Martin Shikuku, named the President of the poor in his heydays. Shikuku recalls that the Halal scandal unfolded under the watch of the Finance minister, who was deemed the fittest for the job, having taught economics at Makerere. Halal Meat Factory, situated in Ngong, was to remain mysterious despite pressure from Parliament. MPs recall that the issue became hotter in 1978 when the Controller and Auditor General Mr Gico Njoroge revealed the case in Parliament. Investigations into the scandal, which saw the Government guarantee payments of Sh27.5 million to the private company, plus a free 11.5 acres of land, focused on how the ministry of land issued the lease. Parliamentarians also questioned details of the signatories of the loans and the names of the investors, who were listed as Modha and his wife Fatuma. The company ownership structure was also a mystery, as it was not known who owned how many shares.
Halals mystery continued to haunt the Government as Nyagah, when hard-pressed in Parliament to explain the acquisition of the 11.5 acres, said that the Commissioner of Lands James Oloughlin, who was said to be interested in the case, pushed the deal. Witnesses said the lands boss initially sought 20 acres from the Veterinary Department but he met stiff resistance as he was told the land he wanted was infested with animal diseases and if Modha was to be allowed to use it, he would need a buffer zone for checking against the spread of the diseases.
The Halal Meat Products ended up with a slaughterhouse with the capacity for 400 cows, 400 goats and 400 sheep. KMC immediately began to feel its impact as it faced a shortage of animals for slaughter. A war of words erupted between the Ministry of Agriculture and KMC Managing Commissioner, who accused Nyagah of failing to protect the firm, in which the Government had invested up to Sh140m from cutthroat competition. “This factory would kill KMC where the Government has invested Sh140m,” argued GG Kariuki during a parliamentary debate on the Halal scandal in June 1978.
“The truth should be revealed. The company is hidden somewhere in Ngong and the Government has been advancing it loans amounting to £1,253,590 since 1974,” said Kariuki, who was then a Health Assistant minister. The Laikipia MP suggested that the people behind Halal, just like Anglo-Leasing, could have been Treasury officials who were working for the downfall of KMC. But when asked, said KMC should leave domestic markets and seek the export markets. Halals mysteries or its close links to the Government officials, came to the public limelight when despite pressure from Parliament, the Government, through the Ministry of Agriculture, set aside £801,300, which was approved in the 1974/75 to 1977/78 budgets in Parliament.
Additional credit from the Treasury to the Ministry of Agriculture brought the Halals rip-off to some Sh27.7 million, a huge sum of money at the current valuation of the shilling, yet the Ministry of Finance would not volunteer a word about the project. When pressed hard to give a ministerial statement in Parliament, Nyagah described the Halal scandal, as “an iceberg with only a third of its body exposed while two thirds remained submerged.” But even before the Halal heat could cool down, the Treasury was involved in a bigger scandal involving over Sh453 million in late July 1978, involving an American company, which also appeared to replicate the Anglo-Leasing or Goldenberg.
In the same style that the grandmasters of the Anglo Leasing scandal left the country, never to be traced, Modha and his wife quietly left the country for what was described as a “world tour of the Far East, China and Japan, Europe and Arabia.” Analysts predicted that the Government was keen to deflect the Halal fiasco in Parliament, where MPs had set up a Select Committee to probe the scandal in 1978, saying Nyagahs statement was unsatisfactory.
Veteran politician John Keen says the Halal scandal and what was later to be known as the Ken-Ren scandal were shadowy projects aimed at siphoning public funds. “These are thieves. They stole from us in Ken-Ren and Halal. Not a single cow was slaughtered in Ngong then. And now they are shamelessly stealing through Anglo Leasing,” Keen said.
Shikuku says the onset of corruption in Kenya was because of a complex process where politicians sought money to buy popularity and has been fuelled by the culture of Harambee, which he said was used to silence critics. “Corruption actually started in 1963 when the late Sir Michael Blundel introduced the late Bruce Mackenzie to the late President Jomo Kenyatta during a show in Eldoret,” Shikuku recalled in an interview.
Mackenzie later gave Kenyatta six heifers. “I remember Mzee was impressed after seeing fattened heifers and Mackenzie said to him, those are yours. Gatundu Hospital was built on harambee, with the big bosses visiting Kenyatta and giving him money for the hospital. The money received for Gatundu Hospital could have easily built two hospitals like the Kenyatta National Hospital,” he said. Efforts by Parliament to probe corruption were nipped in the bud before it went further in the 1970s. When the Ken-Ren scandal broke out in July of 1978, little was known about the huge financial hemorrhage that the country had suffered over the past four years. Kenya, like most countries, was hit by the oil-induced inflation, which characterized the rise of the Tamil Tigers and propelled the Asian giants, leading to unprecedented worldwide shortage of oil and leading to inflation.
The country faced a huge shortage of fertilizers. The situation remained the same years on after the worldwide shortage of fertilizers. From 1974 when the shortage was at its height, the country was riddled with constant shortages. Private companies and cooperative societies, mostly the Kenya Farmers Association, imported fertilizers at the time when the shortage was at its peak. Government officials saw an opportunity to make quick funds and sought to have fertilizers produced in Kenya. Traditionally, the Government sent out invitations to firms that it believed could manufacture fertilizers to avert the shortage. But by the time an American company, N-Ren Corporation applied among a group of others, the country had a fertilizers influx.
The Government had taken the importation of the fertilizers and revoked permits awarded to the private firms, Mackenzie (Kenya) Limited, KFA, Sapa Chemical Industries and Intag Ltd. Mackenzie and KFA were the leading importers of fertilizers. But then the Government claimed these firms were swindling farmers and decided to tender for the project. N-Ren Corporation offered to complete the fertilizer factory the Government dreamed of in about three years time. Treasury was impressed by the fact that N-Ren had offered the lowest price and pledged to help supply fertilizers at prices below the prevailing market prices at the world markets. N-Ren also said it would supply fertilizers through soft-loans.
The two partners, then continued to the next stage and signed an agreement, setting up a new company, Ken-Ren Chemicals and Fertilizers Company, that was intended to be built in Mombasa. It never took off in 1975 when it was registered. The Government set aside Sh428m budget for the project. Kenyans had fallen victim of an Anglo-Leasing style fraud. Critics blamed it on the lack of technical know-how on project administration but MPs said it was a scheme to defraud the taxpayer.
Kenyans realized that they had been duped through a properly planned cartel, which supplied second-hand machinery. Experts said these were not compatible to the ideals of the intended project. Moreover, investigations revealed that the American firm duped the Government into accepting machinery that had earlier been rejected in Ireland. The Government is yet to clear the mist in the project. Government documents and press reports showed the fertilizer manufacturing and blending plant, which was expected to manufacture seven different types of fertilizers to suit various types of crops was a fraud.
The Government had 65 per cent stake in Ken-Ren while the American firm owned 35 per cent, but the firm mysteriously won the management tender and later twisted the agreement, leaving the financial burden of the project to the Government. When the Government awarded the firm the management contract, again a State counsel who worked on the deal turned a blind eye on the flawed deal. But during the three years, the firm squeezed Sh54m from the public coffers. But this did not stop the Government from declaring that it would still continue with the project.
Ken-Ren imported machinery valued at Sh8m, but experts described the machinery as “unwanted” for the intended use. The machinery, whose origin still remains unknown, is still lying unclaimed at the Kilindini Harbour. In 1975 when the Government finalized administrative arrangements with the firm it emerged that N-Ren was a subsidiary of a firm registered in Bermuda, operating from Brussels, Belgium. N-Rens managing agent who was appointed the Managing Director of the defunct Ken-Ren, Kenneth Roy Slocum, was said to have swindled the Government and formed a new company. He was later deported in unclear circumstances. NA BADO!
By Email
KUMBUKA !
Chronicles of impunity – lest we forget
http://www.marsgroupkenya.org
FORGOTTEN CITIZENS – KENYA’S INTERNALLY DISPLACED PEOPLE
It’s a crying shame that 3 years into the Grand Coalition Government the IDPs of the 2008 post election violence are yet to be resettled despite billions of shillings voted for this purpose. Who is to blame? The Executive, Parliament or we Kenyans who have forgotten our fellow Citizens in their hour of need? Here are some statistics to jog our collective memory. –
http://www.marsgroupkenya.org/pdfs/2011/02/KUMBUKA_ISSUE-1.pdf
My comment on that can be found in my facebook note of May 31,2011 about the Smoke on top of fire in Kenya. I mentioned that Kenyatta is running away with taxpayers money. Please read my facebook note.
Is Treasury Giving Fake Cash Reports?
BY MWALIMU MATI
Finance minister Uhuru Kenyatta should fire his Permanent Secretary for failing audit tests and preparing falsified documents for Parliament.
On Wednesday May 11, Mars Group Kenya released a report entitled “Revenue Accounting by the Government of Kenya: unsatisfactory state of affairs! “
The logic behind the release of this report is that not as much attention has been focused on tracking revenues of the Government of Kenya despite frequent reporting by the Controller and Auditor General decrying inconsistent revenue accounting by the Treasury over the years. The report is intended to red-flag the issue of revenue accounting by the Treasury with a view to getting greater transparency and accountability for the benefit of Kenyan taxpayers.
There are three key points to consider.
Firstly, Kenya’s Controller and Auditor General has in his two latest reports excluded from the general certificate most Statements of Revenue of the Government of Kenya. In 2008, he certified only three Statements of revenue and only one as presenting a fair revenue position of the government of Kenya.
Simply put, the current position is that only one out of 14 accounts has passed the audit test.The total amount of the concerned statements is Kshs 714 billion for the two financial years. That would be totally unacceptable in a private company.
While refusing to issue his general certificate, the Controller and Auditor General noted that the Permanent Secretary in the Treasury is responsible for preparation of financial statements and legally shoulders the responsibility when the statements do not fairly present the financial position.
Secondly, it also appears that the Treasury has been keeping different sets of books for the revenue collected and is now involved in an intricate web of a possible cover up and deception as it continues to present different revenue figures to the Controller and Auditor General and to Parliament. The actual revenue receipts as captured by the Controller and Auditor General in the exchequer account differ significantly with the actual revenue receipts presented to Parliament in the estimates of Revenue.
Is it possible that the Treasury maintains different sets of revenue accounts? So it would be the same Treasury but with different revenue positions?
Thirdly, the estimates of Revenue as tabled in Parliament, which reflect the final revised estimates of revenue, differ significantly from the final revised estimates of revenue as captured by the Controller and Auditor General in his reports.
The approved revised estimates of revenue cannot be altered by the Treasury. This fact was confirmed by the famous “computer error” in 2010 when Parliament recalled supplementary estimates for this very reason, restating the fact that what Parliament approves is the final approval. The implications of Treasury altering these figures are very serious and grave.
Prior to the release of the Mars Group report, Hon John Mbadi requested a ministerial statement from Treasury on the revenue accounts. Three times, the Minister of Finance failed to bring this statement to Parliament, causing the Speaker on Tuesday May 10 to sanction the Ministry of Finance. The Minister and his Assistant cannot transact any business in Parliament until they bring this statement to the House following the ruling of the speaker.
If the Treasury told Parliament the truth, then nothing would be simpler than re-tabling the documents they originally laid on the table and standing by them.
But alas, that would complete the crime and the political officers (ministers) other than the Accounting Officer would be legally liable as they do now have notice that something is very wrong with the numbers.
We expect the Minister of Finance to ask his Permanent Secretary, who is his accounting officer, the following questions:
1. How many of your revenue accounts passed the audit test?
2. Do the actual revenue receipts as reported to Parliament faithfully reflect the actual receipts as captured by the Controller and Auditor General In the exchequer account?
3. Do the revised estimates of revenue tabled in Parliament reflect the actual approval by given by Parliament?
Every Kenyan knows that the Minister of Finance and his assistant minister do not write the books and neither do they prepare the accounts of the Government. This demand for accountability is not political. Mr Kenyatta should on behalf of Kenyans seek accountability from his accounting officer. In truth the minister should sack his accounting officer for failing audit tests and creating falsified documents for the minister to table in Parliament.
We ask you, Mr Uhuru Kenyatta and your assistant Mr Oburu Odinga: Are you willing to ignore the reports of the Controller and Auditor General? Is the Controller and Auditor General producing rubbish or is something wrong with the bookkeeping at the Treasury?
The Mars Group report can be read at http://www.marsgroupkenya.org/revenue. Jane Mati is a director of Mars Group Kenya
Do you support Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta’s exoneration of Education minister Sam Ongeri from the financial scam in his ministry?
NO 85.09
YES 14.91
Your SayNo i don’t support.this is pure politics meant to serve indiviual interest. …
Mohamed Muktar, Kiribati
Your Comments
This is vert dangerous Kikuyu Ruling class NAZIST Ideology >Taking oath of allegiancy that Kenyas leadership will never leave the House of Mumbi!
Watch the Video>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rk4aRoqEP2Q&feature=channel_video_title
Comment by Arap Kigen | August 6, 2011
Regionism, Tribalism, Nipotism, Ethnocentricis, all are = to Genocide (PEV). Ocampo must act the fastes to save us from this Tribal politics that is a Recipe for Anarchy but has never felt less relevance or useful in Kenyan Politics.
Nepotism and Tribalism are two poisonous diseases at large in our society and nation:Nepotism is “favoritisms shown to relatives or close friends by those with power or influence”.
Tribalism is positively, “loyalty to a tribe or tribal values”. Negatively, tribalism is “a way of thinking or behaving in which people are more loyal to their tribe than to their friends, their country, or any other social group”. “A ‘tribe’ in Kenya is a particular identity construction created by colonial powers in an effort to more easily dominate the population & in contrast an ‘ethnicity’ is a group of people who share a common identity, rituals, and, most commonly language.”
Of the more than 40 ethnic groups currently in Kenya, the main tribes are Kikuyu , Luhya, Kalenjin, Luo , Meru, Kisii, Kamba, Swahili, Masai, and Turkana… In Kenya, as elsewhere, bearing an ethnic identity is an “ordinary aspect of selfhood and basic social relation.” Unfortunately the increasing violence and sensitivity to one another’s tribal affiliations whether in politics or in everyday situations has proved that the effects of tribalism in Kenya bear negative consequences. The manipulation of ethnic identity by the political elite has led to a rise of tribalism and ultimately a clash between African customary law and western modernity.
Uhuru is trying to activate tribal regional emotions and sympathy before ICC and in particular Ocampo terminates his overly developed political ego. The problem with most Kenyans is lack of imagination.
Ocampo gives Uhuru, Muthaura dossier Saturday, 06 August 2011 00:01 BY NZAU MUSAU
READY: ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo. Photo/Philip Kamakya
INTERNATIONAL Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo has disclosed his third batch of the evidence he has against suspects Uhuru Kenyatta, Francis Muthaura and Hussein Ali. The evidence, which has now been submitted to the three, does not require any redaction and, in the estimation of the prosecutor, does not pose a threat to prosecution witnesses or other persons.
The disclosed materials are those which attempt to prove the organisational aspect of the violence and particularly with regard to Mungiki sect which Ocampo says was used to perpetrate acts of violence over the post-election period. “The prosecution herewith submits its third communication of disclosure to the defence of incriminating evidence collected after 31 March 2011 and for which no redaction is needed,” Ocampo in submitting the information.
A large part of the disclosed material is media, human rights and UN agency reports on activities and news of the sect especially after the post-election violence. It includes reportage on the report of UN Rapporteur on extrajudicial execution Prof Philip Alston, the killings of Mungiki top leaders including Maina Njenga’s wife Nyakio, a Mungiki documentary by Ross Kemp and reports on killing of former police driver Bernard Kiriinya.
The evidence also include a newspaper interview with then jailed Njenga in which he is quoted as saying that the killings of his two deputies was as a result of documents in their possession implicating police in arbitrary executions. “But we still managed to get photocopies of the documents later and handed them to for Provincial Commissioner Maina on Tuesday to give to the President and the PM,” Njenga is quoted as saying and accusing police of plotting to finish the group’s top leadership.
It contains information on shooting of Mungiki spokesman Njuguna Gitau and the recent abduction and killing of a Makadara court case witness Kenneth Irungu to show that police death squads still exist. Irungu was abducted at Muthurwa market earlier this year after attending a court case.
Ocampo quotes Alston as attesting to the systematic killing of young men. “I [Alston P] have received overwhelming testimony that there exists in Kenya a systematic, widespread and well-planned strategy to execute individuals, carried out by the police,” the disclosed evidence quotes Alston as saying of the alleged killings of some 500 suspected Mungiki members.
To show that the attacks were widespread and targeting civilians, Ocampo quotes President Kibaki as saying that approximately 7,000 of the 350,000 persons who fled their homes were yet to be resettled as at September 2009. The disclosed evidence also shows how the government has tried to resettle these people starting with the “operation rudi nyumbani” which was not quite successful. Ocampo has also disclosed other pieces of evidence he has against the three but the documents are confidential and cannot be accessed by the media.
KIKUYU MPS & CABINET MINISTERS WANT KIBAKI TO DECLARE UHURU AS HIS SUCCESSOR!
National National MPs WANT KIBAKI TO ENDORSE UHURU
MPs WANT KIBAKI TO ENDORSE UHURU Monday, 08 August 2011 15:47 BY STAR REPORTER
PUSH: President Kibaki with Uhuru at a function in Ruiru last month. Photo/File
President Kibaki is coming under increasing pressure to endorse Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Uhuru Kenyatta as his successor, the Star has learnt. The president himself alluded to this pressure last week while denouncing early campaigns by prospective candidates with some people demanding that he declare whom he wants to succeed him.
Those pushing for Kibaki’s endorsement of Uhuru are wary of the inroads Planning assistant minister, Peter Kenneth, Narc-Kenya leader, Martha Karua and Safina Leader Paul Muite might make within the Central province voting bloc as they have all declared interest in the presidency.
Some of the people including businessmen, powerful politicians and powerbrokers close to the president have reportedly been asking the President to endorse Uhuru during informal meetings they have been holding. “We want him to do so in his own way but not the way Moi did in 2002. His blessings, networks and goodwill is what we want to help Uhuru win next year,” said one of President Kibaki’s close confidants.
Moi’s endorsement of Uhuru in 2002 backfired and led to his (Uhuru) rejection by voters. Those pushing for Kibaki to endorse Uhuru however argue that he carries with him a substantial amount of public goodwill across the country unlike Moi. During a meeting held last week in Karen and attended by 10 MPs including Energy Minister Kiraitu Murungi, the MPs declared that Uhuru would be Central Kenya’s presidential candidate. The decision by the MPs is seen as part of the on-going strategy to raise Uhuru’s profile.
Those pushing for the “strategic” endorsement also argue that Uhuru is the best candidate because his family has the financial muscle to mount a serious presidential challenge. They also say that Uhuru supported Kibaki in the last election and see Kibaki’s endorsement as pay back for this. Uhuru is Kibaki’s godson. “Anyone else from central Kenya is an outsider,” said a senior Cabinet minister from the region. Environment minister John Michuki has been the most vocal supporter when it comes to Uhuru’s presidential ambition. Michuki has received a fair share of condemnation after he endorsed Uhuru as the Kikuyu, Embu and Meru flag bearer ahead of the 2012 elections.
His proposition was condemned as “Project Uhuru II” by among others Karua, who is also a 2012 presidential hopeful. Agriculture assistant minister Kareke Mbiuki, who is a close ally of the Kanu chairman said although no official support had been sought from Kibaki, it was unlikely the president will endorse any of the more than ten people who have so far declared their intentions to succeed him. “Kibaki will not endorse any presidential candidate but we will be seeking his vote,” said Mbiuki yesterday.
It is also understood that the President is also under pressure to drop some of of his advisors as well as those who have been using their close relationship as leverage in the political arena. They are also particularly concerned about the role suspended Minister William Ruto is playing in the Kibaki succession politics and want him “cut downto size” as he is also a presidential contender.
Nairobi Metropolitan Minister Njeru Githae yesterday said the growing political alliance between Ruto and PNU leaders was good for the country. “If the Uhuru and Ruto can help build harmony in the Rift Valley using political strategies then there is nothing wrong with that,” said Githae. Two groups have emerged within the PNU all claiming to be working on behalf of Uhuru’s presidential bid. One of the groups is led by former President Kibaki aide Alfred Getonga and the other by Professor Peter Kagwanja.
Getonga’s group is working on a strategy that will see Uhuru abandon PNU and Kanu where is the chairman, establish or take over an already registered political party which he will use as his vehicle in the presidential race. The Kagwanja team is working on a strategy that will see Uhuru remain in the PNU Alliance and go through nomination race with Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka and PNU chairman George Saitoti.This strategy envisages Uhuru trumping his opponents and becoming the party’s nominee. Opinion polls by different agencies including Steadman, Infotrack and Strategic Research and Public Relations have consistently placed Uhuru ahead of Kalonzo and Saitoti as possible PNU candidates.
Some of Uhuru’s supporters including majority of the MPs who attended the meeting in Karen Karen last friday believe the PNU Alliance joint strategy is dead. They say there was no “magic’ that could bring Uhuru, Kalonzo, Saitoti, and Ruto under one roof for joint nominations. Uhuru is also understood to be uncomfortable with the inroads Raila is making in parts of Meru region which has traditionally voted for Kibaki and which Uhuru hoped to consolidate and support his own presidential race.
Uhuru Kenyatta is in Shit-Pit!
NEW UHURU PARTY IN SECRET RECRUITMENT Skip to content
NEW UHURU PARTY IN SECRET RECRUITMENT Friday, 26 August 2011 00:03 BY STAR TEAM
PERTURBED: Ndaragwa MP Jeremiah Kioni during a press conference at Parliament yesterday. Photo/Chrispinus Wekesa.
CLOSE associates of Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta are quietly recruiting people into the newly formed United Democratic Forum party. People around President Kibaki are also involved in the recruitment which is being done in the guise of “governance training”, according to multiple sources. The UDF was formed as a fallback strategy in case Uhuru loses the nomination of PNU or G7 alliances.
Earlier this month Registrar of Political Parties Lucy Ndungu confirmed that there was a provisional application for registration of UDF. “We are not sure that (Internal Security minister George) Saitoti will allow us to use PNU and on the other hand we believe Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka may pull a fast one on us when it comes to the PNU Alliance Party which he controls,” said a minister behind the UDF. Uhuru apparently wants to abandon Kanu, where is still chairman, for another party that he will use to vie for the Presidency in 2012. The recruitment is taking place at “leadership symposiums” at a conference centre in Karen.
According to an insider, former and current intelligence officials have been tasked to identify key people across Kenya to attend the “training”.
Those targeted include opinion leaders, youth and women representatives from all counties to be conscripted into the “leadership and governance” programme .
Over the last four months there have been over 20 sessions with at least 50 participants, each session costing about Sh1.2 million paid to trainers and participants.
The UDF insiders said that Transport minister Amos Kimunya is being weighed as an alternative to succeed President Kibaki if Uhuru cannot stand — if the International Criminal Court confirms the crimes against humanity charges.
Yesterday Ndaragwa MP Jeremiah Kioni and lawyer Dr Stephen Njiru, both close allies of Uhuru, confirmed the registration of the UDF and the on-going “training”. Kioni said that the training will popularise the party. “The UDF is a national movement which has representation across the country,” he said.
Kioni denied that the government was funding the new party saying it was sustained by the goodwill of its members. “Even PNU has never received any funding yet its programmes are on course. We are used to such suspicions whenever we start such forums. They will always connect it with the state and these perceptions will always be there,” he added. Both Kioni and Dr Njiru refused to divulge more information on the officials behind the party only saying that “they are just our friends”. PNU spokesman Moses Kuria yesterday denied being a UDF official but said he was aware of the party.
Participants in the leadership forums are paid Sh10,000 per diem for the three days they attend at the Corat Africa Conference Centre in Nairobi’s Karen area. “We were approached by some former intelligence officer who asked us to attend the trainings with transport and accommodation offered,” one participant from Nakuru told the Star.
In one session last month, President Kibaki’s Private Secretary Prof Nick Wanjohi was listed as a facilitator and participants confirmed that he took them through various issues. Some PNU members are wondering why close associates of President Kibaki seem to to be working for UDF.
PNU vice chairman and Wildlife minister Noah Wekesa and Tourism assistant minister Cecily Mbarire said they were not involved the new party and asked those behind it to come clean.
Mbarire said she could not support it. “As a senior PNU official, they may not disclose much to me since they know some of us will be uncomfortable with registering another party,” she added.
The CMD chairman and former Siakago MP Justin Muturi said the party was registered by some “operatives” whose intentions he was not aware of. Muturi is a Kanu official closely allied to Uhuru.
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