The Luxurious “Hustler’s Jet” Cartoon: “Choices have Consequences”
Freedom of Press is under threat from the Jubilee government after pro-Jubilee MPs attacked the Nation Media Group yesterday in Parliament, accusing the company of having published a cartoon depicting Hustler Deputy President and suspected war criminal William Ruto being massaged by girls in a luxurious jet that had been hired for Ruto by the government to fly him to West African countries last week.
Documents obtained by The Nation show that the jet would cost the tax payer a whooping Ksh 100 million quarterly, a clear wastage of public funds by a government which was rigged to power on a platform of safeguarding public interest and reducing wastage of public resources.
At a time when the government is facing a budget deficit of Ksh 24 billion to finance the county governments, and at a time when millions of Kenyans are unable to put food on the table due to run-away prices of basic consumer commodities, it can only be an act of impunity for the Hague-bound hustler to have accepted the hiring of the luxurious jet when other alternative and cheaper means of transport were available.
During the period when the jet was hired last week, the Presidential jet was available and idle. Since the hustler claimed that he was representing his boss during the trip, the best option could have been to use the Presidential jet and save the tax payer millions of Kenyan shillings which could be used to provide books for primary school children or even construct schools for young pupils learning under trees in the open air without education facilities.
“Choices have consequences” and since the Mount Kenya mafia cartel chose to rig two suspected criminals in power, the current wastage of public resources is part of the consequences Kenyans will have to pay for having criminals (suspected of murder, rape and other crimes against humanity) in charge of the State and all its resources. The consequences have just began.
Okoth Osewe
Kenya Stockholm Blog 
Paper faces legal action over Sh100m Ruto jet story
By WAMBUI NDONGA | May 22, 2013
NAIROBI, Kenya, May 22- Deputy President William Ruto has sent a demand letter to the Nation Media Group (NMG) over a story that ran on the May 19 issue of the Sunday Nation, alleging he spent Sh100 million of taxpayers’ money to hire a luxury jet.
Ruto said the media group must issue an apology, admit liability for libel within seven days and retract the false story because of the harm it caused him after publication.
He argued that the newspaper ran with the story, which was accessible throughout the East African region and the Internet, under what he termed as an ‘unnecessary, provocative and alarming headline’.
Ruto’s office was this week forced to control the damage done by releasing invoices and other documents relating to the rental of the jet, maintaining that the actual cost was Sh18.5 million.
“It was expressly meant to embarrass, discredit and malign his respected status and standing as a respected Kenyan and deputy president in the government of Kenya,” the demand note from Ruto’s advocate Kioko Kilukumi states.
The deputy president added that the jet he hired did not have any bedroom, meeting room, office, lounge or fully equipped kitchen as alleged in the article.
He explained that he opted for the cheapest option out of the three quotations that were obtained from charter aircraft service providers and cautioned the media house against running additional publications of a similar nature.
Ruto maintained that the jet in question was not hired on an annual basis but on a one-off basis adding that there would be no need to pay for it in instalments.
“The article was calculated to be understood that our client was leading a lavish lifestyle at the expense of the taxpayers. A prudent reader will conclude that our client has very little regard to tax payer’s monies,” argued Kilukumi in part.
It was not immediately clear what damages Ruto plans to get from the suit.
He also said that he will file a complaint with the Media Complaints Commission if NMG fails to comply with his demands within the stipulated time.
Ruto added that the journalist behind the headline did not seek his side of the story before publishing the article.
“The story as published lacks fairness, impartiality and accuracy. It is biased and heavily tilted to depict our client in the most unfavourable light,” stressed Kilukumi.
May 2013
DRAFT DECISION ON THE PROCEEDINGS INITIATED BY THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINALCOURT (ICC) AGAINST THE PRESIDENT AND THE VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OFKENYA
Doc. Assembly/AU/…
The Assembly,
i. REITERATES AU’s unflinching commitment to combating impunity and promotingdemocracy, the rule of law and good governance throughout the entire continent,in conformity with its Constitutive Act;
ii. DEEPLY REGRETS that the request by the African Union (AU) to the United Nations (UN) SecurityCouncil to defer the proceedings initiated against President Bashir of TheSudan and Senior State Official of Kenya, in accordance with Article 16 of theRome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on deferral of cases bythe UN Security Council, has not been acted upon;
iii. REAFFIRMS its previous Decisions on the activities of the ICC inAfrica, adopted in January and July 2009, January and July 2010, January 2011and July 2011, January and July 2012 respectively, in which itexpressed its strong conviction that the searchfor justice should be pursued in a way that does not impede or jeopardize efforts aimed at promotinglasting peace and reiterated AU’s concern with the misuse of indictments against African leaders;
iv. STRESSES the need for international justice to be conducted in a transparent andfair manner, in order to avoid any perception of double standard, in conformitywith the principles of international law, and EXPRESSES CONCERN at thethreat that the indictment of H.E Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta and H.E WilliamSamoei Ruto, the President and Vice-President of the Republic ofKenya respectively, may pose to efforts aimed at promoting the peace andsecurity as well as the rule of law and stability in Africa;
v. RECALLS that,pursuant to the principle of complementarity enshrined in the Rome Statute ofthe ICC, Kenya has primary jurisdiction over the investigations andprosecutions of crimes in relation to the 2007 post-election violence, in thisregard, DEEPLY REGRETS the Decisions of thePre-trial Chamber II and the appeals Chamber of the ICC on the admissibility ofthe cases dated 30 May and 30 August 2011respectively, which denied the rightof Kenya to prosecute and tryalleged perpetrators of crimes committed on its territory in relation to the2007 post-election violence;
vi. SUPPORTS AND ENDORSES the Eastern Africa Region’s request for a referral of the ICC investigations and prosecutions in relation to the 2007 post-electionviolence in Kenya, in line with the principle of complementarity, to allow fora National Mechanism to investigate and prosecute the cases under a reformedJudiciary provided for in the new constitutional dispensation, in support of the ongoing peace building and national reconciliation processes, in order toprevent the resumption of conflict and violence in Kenya;
vii. REQUESTS theCommission, in collaboration with the African Court of Human and Peoples’Rights and the African Union Commission on the International Law (AUCIL), toorganize an AU reflection, as part of the 50th Anniversarydiscussion on the broad areas of International Criminal Justice System, Peace,Justice and Reconciliation as well as the impact/actions of the ICC in Africa –to both inform the ICC process but also seek ways of strengthening Africanmechanisms to deal with African challenges and problems;
viii. ALSO REQUESTS the Commission tofollow-up on this matter and to report regularly on the implementation of thevarious Assembly decisions on the ICC.
Ruto must be bi-sexual! The women Ministeres were nominated for Sexual purposes to make sure Ruto&Uhuru dicks sare cleaned daily by Kunyonywas_ Most of these women are high-class hores ready to committ any sexual style with ruto(Uhuru That is Power Mighty Corrupts these Criminals!Uhuruto Dangulos and Kahabas!
Saturday, October 5, 2013
Auditor asks House to order Briton to respond to queries about Ruto jet
By JOHN NGIRACHU
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The Auditor General wants the Public Accounts Committee of the National Assembly to use its powers to question a British national who co-owns the firm that provided the jet used by Deputy President William Ruto on a trip of four African countries in May.
In a report tabled in Parliament, Auditor General Edward Ouko says Ahmed Kassam, a British national who is a shareholder in EADC Limited, refused to be interviewed by auditors.
“Mr Kassam did not turn up for a meeting with us on June 19. We booked for this meeting through Mr Evans Nyachio (a civil servant at Mr Ruto’s office) who had explained to us that Mr Kassam would meet us on this date after he came back from South Africa,” says Mr Ouko.
The other director is Punit D. Vadgama and the report is silent on whether the auditors met him.
Mr Kassam was to discuss the relationship between his firm and Vista Jet, an Austrian firm that entered an agreement with EADC a day after EADC won the contract to supply the jet.
He would also be asked to discuss the invoice published by the Daily Nation, which Mr Ruto’s office disowned and which the auditors found puzzling as it is connected to procurement documents plucked from a book in Mr Ruto’s office.
On August 2, the PAC, chaired by Budalang’i MP Ababu Namwamba, decided that Mr Kassam must be summoned.
Although the auditors established that the procurement process was riddled with irregularities, they couldn’t unlock the mystery behind an invoice for $300,000 they say could be connected to two missing Local Service Orders (LSOs) from Mr Ruto’s office.
They also say “there is no evidence to link the irregularities to any particular individual in the Office of the Deputy President.”
“Most of these irregularities are procurement related issues probably occasioned by the short notice given to the procurement personnel for the procurement to be done.”
It concludes that the Deputy President’s trip was a hastily arranged affair initiated by an illegal verbal order from President Uhuru Kenyatta.
But it is the missing LSOs that raise the most suspicion.
“The serial numbers of the missing LSOs in relation to the one that was eventually paid shows that the transaction was carried out at around the same time,” Mr Ouko says.
“A Program Partnership Agreement between Vista Jet and EADC Limited was signed on May 16, 2013 (a day after the Kenyan firm landed the contract). Further, the logo in the invoice compares to the logo in other documents from Vista Jet. These activities were inexplicably around the same dates (show) that there is a probability that the Agreement, the missing LSOs and the invoice appearing in the Daily Nation were related.”
The agreement between EADC and Vista Jet was for collaboration over three years. The quarterly payment for this was $730,000 and $300,000 was to be paid before May 25, 2013.
“There is therefore a possibility of a link between this first installment of $300,000 mentioned above and the $300,000 that appeared in the invoice (published by the Nation),” the auditor concludes.
An internal memo dated May 19 announced the loss of several LSOs. An advertisement making a similar announcement and cancelling the two missing documents was published in the Daily Nation and the Standard on July 29.
The auditors have concluded that, “As long as these two LSOs are not made available to us, we shall not be able to make an informed conclusion on this matter.”
TRAIL OF IRREGULARITIES
“The Office of the Auditor General will keep in view any possible payment that would appear to relate to the invoice that appeared in the Daily Nation of May 23 regarding lease of aircraft,” the report states.
Overall, the Auditor General says, there was a trail of irregularities in the trip right from the initiation to the hiring of the jet.
Ms Marianne Keitany, Chief of Staff at Mr Ruto’s office, told auditors that the instruction to start the trip was verbal and it came from the President on May 14. Mr Ruto was working in accordance with the Constitution.
But in the process, President Kenyatta violated the Constitution, which requires in Article 135 that his decision “should be in writing and bear the seal and signature of the President.”
When the instruction was received at the Office of the Deputy President, a committee was constituted immediately. It had six officers from Mr Ruto’s office and one from the Foreign Affairs ministry.
Mr Ruto’s itinerary covered Congo-Brazaville, Gabon, Nigeria and Algeria. Algeria was then replaced with Ghana. The overall purpose of the trip was to address the economic and security challenges posed by Somalia.
There were 13 people in his entourage; MPs Alice Ng’ang’a (Thika Town, TNA), Yusuf Chanzu (Vihiga Town, UDF), Naisula Lesuuda (Nominated Senator, TNA), James Mungai (Nakuru Senator, TNA).
Staffers from his office were Marianne Keitany, Winston Adeli, Daniel Onyancha and Nelson Adeya.
Others were Richard Lemoshin from the Foreign Affairs ministry and four bodyguards – Kibet Taigut, Elijah Kiplimo, Kilisio Nicholas and Kemboi John Cheruiyot.
The Challenger 850 cost $221,000 (Sh18.54 million) to hire and an additional Sh2.1 million was spent on accommodation, transport and miscellaneous expenses.
Mr Ouko says “the procurement process was noted to have had some weaknesses such as lack of documented specifications of the aircraft”. EADC had for example quoted for an aircraft called Global Express 6000 but then provided the Challenger 850.
“There was no formal contract entered between EADC Limited and the Office of the Deputy President for this service. It was explained to us that the LSO served as the contract due to time limitation,” the auditor says.
The committee formed to procure the jet eventually settled on EADC, ABM Aviation and Lady Lori Kenya Ltd and asked them to submit quotations.
Procurement laws require that contracts worth more than Sh500,000 should be awarded through open tendering, meaning in its haste, the Deputy President’s office also broke that law.
But the names in various documents for two of the companies are not consistent with the names as they appear in the records of the Registrar of Companies. EADC variously appears as e-ADC and E-ADC while ABM Aviation is also Aircraft Business Management Ltd.
None of the companies file annual returns with the registrar as required by law.
The auditors also noted that the Deputy President’s office only made inquiries about alternative means of travelling on May 20, when the trip had already taken place.
It would have been more expensive to take commercial flights.
The auditor concludes that there is no possibility of claims by EADC or against it since all amounts have been fully settled.
He says all presidential decisions should in the future be “in writing and bear the signature and seal of the President.” There should also be proper planning for such trips in the future to avoid conflict with the law.
MPs want DP William Ruto’s aides probed over ‘flawed’ jet procurement
Updated Tuesday, April 15th 2014 at 12:16 GMT +3
By WILFRED AYAGA
NAIROBI, KENYA: A House team has recommended further investigation into the hiring of a private jet used by Deputy President William Ruto during last year’s shuttle diplomacy across African capitals. In its report to be debated and possibly endorsed by the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has asked Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to probe the role of Marianne Kitany, who is the DP’s Chief of Staff and three other officials in the DP’s office over the procurement of the so-called ‘Hustler’s Jet.’
The report, a copy of which The Standard has seen, is a follow up to the Auditor General’s report that investigated the controversial hiring, and accuses Kitany and the three officials for allegedly violating the Public Procurement Oversight rules.
It wants EACC to launch investigations into how the jet was exclusively procured for Ruto to tour African States on a mission to lobby support for deferral or return of the cases facing him and the President in The Hague, to the Kenya’s justice system.
LINKING TOP LEADERS
“In our findings, the officials flouted procurement rules as stipulated in the Public Procurement Oversight Authority rules of 2005,” the report to be tabled, concludes.�
Other officials to be probed are Ruto’s Administrative Secretary at the time, Abdul Mwasera and procurement officials, Evans Nyachieo and Simon Okoth.
Although the report agrees with most of the Auditor General’s recommendations on the fate of the officials, it however differs on their level of culpability.
Whereas the Auditor General had recommended that the officials be handed over to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), the PAC report suggests that they should be investigated further. “It would not be justified to have them charged without having them probed further for any indiscretions they may have committed,” recommends the report.
During the committee deliberations, the members were split on the issue with some members arguing the Auditor General’s recommendation to hand them over to the DPP would amount to a presumption of guilt.
The Deputy President and his delegation flew in the luxury jet to the West and Central African countries of Nigeria, Congo, Gabon and Ghana in May last year with claims that the trip cost taxpayers Sh100 million.
Although the Office of Deputy President later provided documents to prove that they paid about Sh18.5 million to the jet company, local service orders (LSOs) that were used in the hiring of the jet mysteriously disappeared making it difficult for the office of the Auditor General to pinpoint the exact cost.
Leaves that would have also assisted in resolving the puzzle also vanished without trace from the main chequebook.
Mwasera had told the committee during its hearings that the jet had been hired on President Uhuru Kenyatta’s instructions and that he was only ‘executing the order.’
The committee in its report did not directly rule out the possibility of such instructions, and instead reckoned that the President ‘broke the law’ if indeed he issued such verbal instructions. It stated in its recommendations that “Instructions from the President should be in writing, not verbal.” This is the closest the report comes to linking any of the country’s top two leaders to any irregularities.
The Auditor General had told the committee that he could not find any letter written by the President issuing such instructions with regard to hiring of the jet. “As you know, Article 135 of the Constitution says that such instructions shall be in writing, and must bear the seal and signature of the President. We did not see such a letter,” Mr Ouko told the committee.
On Ruto’s role, the report says: “The Deputy President is not involved in procurement.”
The report lays blame on top officials for the disappearance of the LSOs and probably alleged transfer of staff from the Office of the Deputy President when the controversy came to light.
REMIT TAXES
It says that Kitany should have launched investigations into her staff when the matter was brought to her attention. “The committee found that she never instituted any investigations into the conduct of the staff when the matter was raised in public,” a section of the report says.
The only senior official who appears to have survived adverse mention is former Permanent Secretary in Ruto’s office Mr Mohamed Isahakia, who at the time of the controversy issued a statement denying that the jet had been hired from a European firm—Vista Jet, at an initial cost of Sh24. 4 million.
He instead clarified that the jet had been procured from a Kenyan firm E-ADC at the cost of sh18.5 million. The firm was however later indicted by the Auditor General for failure to remit taxes.
The report, a copy of which The Standard has seen, says that the decision to recommend further investigations into actions of the officials arose out of the committee’s appreciation that the hiring of the jet through single sourcing may have been informed by “time constraints”.
It argues that given the ‘urgency’ of the DP’s trip abroad, the officials may have decided to use an existing list of suppliers presented to them to save on time.
The report, which was adopted on Thursday last week, will be tabled after the National Assembly resumes its sittings on April 22. The House is currently on recess.