Nairobi Notebook

Will He Stay or Go?

A few weeks ago I blogged on the farcical deal cut between the Kenyan Anti Corruption Commission and one of the greatest looters of Kenyan funds in the country’s history. The Goldenberg scandal of the early 1990s brought the Kenyan economy to its knees. Chief architect of the multi-billion dollar swindle was one Kamlesh Pattni. In April this year the KACC agreed to accept Pattni hand over his  5* Grand Regency Hotel to the Central Bank of Kenya, and thus the public. Pattni gloated on television that he had been “immunised”-  the KACC had granted an amnesty.

This week the farce has continued as details have slowly leaked out regarding the fraudulent sale of the Grand Regency, a sale directed by Kenya’s Minister of Finance, Amos Kimunya, and the Governor of the Central Bank. Kimunya’s cabinet colleagues claim they knew nothing of the sale, which was never offered out to public bids contrary to Kenyan law. Initially Kimunya denied the Hotel had been sold. A fellow minister blew-the-whistle and Kimunya backtracked admitting it had, for a price of 2.9 billion shillings $(45 million). Now it turns out the land and building were sold for just 1.8 billion shillings, way under the market value for a piece of Nairobi’s hottest real-estate.

Kimunya is a man on the rack. Yesterday parliament passed a vote-of-no-confidence against Kimunya. A 5-man team appointed by the PM Raila Odinga told the President Kimunya ought to resign and an investigation set up.

And you can bet Kimunya will resign. An even safer bet is that he will be back holding a ministerial post in a matter of months, a year or two at the most. He would be joining a fair-sized list of Ministers who have done the same…Prof George Saitoti to name one. He was named by an inquiry into Goldenberg years ago…but he wasn’t wondering in the political wilderness long before he was brought back on board.

It’s too early to say that Kimunya has pocketed public funds or whether he's just been careless. There is a strong whiff of corruption and at the very least however he has acted outside the law in what appears to be a fraudulent deal. Kimunya’s next few days and months will be a telling indication of whether Kibaki is serious, and indeed capable, of fighting corruption, or whether Ministers are still able rob Kenyans with total impunity. Bear in mind you get seven years behind bars in Kenya just for stealing a chicken!

 Needless to say, Kenyans are shaking their heads in dismay. I took a ride yesterday in Christopher’s (taxi driver) battered Toyota. “We work 24 hours a day for peanuts”, he bemoaned, “while they pay themselves a handsome salary. Why, why do they steal on top? It’s not enough for him to resign. He should go to jail.”

There is a danger Kimunya becomes the fall guy and we must not lose sight of the fact that this latest scandal is just one piece of a far bigger fraud. There are politicians and businessmen who need bringing to book. A year ago the KACC spokesperson told me that he could assure Kenyans " all the big fish would be brought to justice". If surrendering a hotel bought with stolen funds in the first instance is the KACC's idea of justice then these are sad times for Kenya.

Old Boys Club

Last year Kenyan MPs voted - overwhelmingly believe it or not - in favour of giving themselves a massive pay-rise. They are now some of the best paid parliamentarians in the world (probably the best if you work out their hourly salary given the pitiful amount of time they actually spend in the chamber), taking home close to one million shillings (some $15,000) a month in salary and allowances.

But today we learn from The Standard that they are not finished yet. Having looked after themselves MPs are now turning their attentions to their predecessors. Not just their immediate predecessors...the 345 million shilling secret "send-off" includes every living MP who has entered into office since Kenyan independence in 1963. The speaker of the house has called the payment a "token gesture of appreciation".

A token gesture maybe how the political elite in this country perceive such sums of money. But I doubt that's how the 18 million or so people who live on less than a dollar a day here will see it. So pity the Kenyan tax-payer who will have to foot the bill while trying to keep his above water as   the price of  oil soars, food prices  show no immediate sign of steadying and inflation skips past 20%.

And if this move by the old boys network isn't enough to make you shake your head with despair as the blood boils, then take a look at the direction Kenya's political leaders continue to take the fight against corruption. A parliamentary committee has laid its hands on a document detailing an amnesty deal between the Anti-Corruption Commission - located within the absurdly named Integrity House - and Kamlesh Pattni, one of Kenya's wealthiest businessmen and a principal scoundrel in the Goldenberg scandal. In return for immunity Pattni has had to surrender his luxurious Grand Regency Hotel. Big deal say many here, he financed the hotel
with millions of dollars stolen from the Kenyan economy in the first place.

When I interviewed the Anti-Corruption Commission's spokesman, Nicholas Simani, last year  he assured Kenyans they would see the  day when the "big fish" were held to account. You would assume that included the masterminds behind Goldenberg. The paper-trail is supposedly there but there is zero politcal will...plus ca change!