'Kenya not punishing offenders'
2007-01-22 21:08
Nairobi - The man who exposed details of one of Kenya's biggest corruption scandals lambasted President Mwai Kibaki's government on Sunday for failing to punish any offenders despite a raft of inquiries into top officials.
"Tragically, the impunity that many Kenyans - including myself - believed to be a thing of the past after the last general election, is still alive and with us five years later," said former top anti-corruption official John Githongo.
Githongo issued a statement from Britain, where he has lived since 2005, after Kenya formally cleared energy minister Kiraitu Murungi and former finance minister David Mwiraria in the so-called Anglo-Leasing scandal.
In one of several high-profile scams of recent years in east Africa's biggest economy, state tenders worth hundreds of millions of dollars were awarded to fictitious firms including Anglo-Leasing. The contracts covered a range of deals from passports to naval ships and forensic labs.
Anglo-Leasing, and other cases, have infuriated Kenyans and western donors, disillusioned at Kibaki's failure to stamp out graft as he vowed after replacing Daniel arap Moi in 2002.
Murungi back into government
Murungi and Mwiraria, accused of involvement in the scam, quit cabinet at the start of 2006 after Githongo fingered them for blocking inquiries. They both denied the charges.
Kibaki recently brought Murungi back into government, and in a ruling published on Friday, the Kenya Anti Corruption Commission (KACC) rubbished Githongo's accusations.
In the statement published in local Kenyan newspaper The Standard, Githongo said the KACC, led by director Aaron Ringera, appeared "totally unconcerned" that millions of dollars of taxpayers' money was "literally given away" by officials.
"Neither Judge Ringera, nor the government of President Mwai Kibaki have shown any serious interest in pursuing the perpetrators of this scandal," he said, adding that nobody wanted to stir up matters before an election later this year.
A host of investigations in Kenya have quietly stalled.
"The fact still remains that President Kibaki has done nothing to end this charade, which I informed him about more than two years ago," added Githongo, who served as Kibaki's adviser on corruption until he quit in frustration.
'Employed by Kenyan people'
Githongo said the Anglo Leasing scandal comprised 18 fraudulent contracts worth more than $700m.
"What serious actions have been taken to solve this crime against the Kenyan people? The only action the government has taken is to show that it is determined to try to erase this crime from our memory by using public money to issue clearance statements," said Githongo.
The whistle-blower, who comes from the same Kikuyu ethnic group of Kibaki and many of the ruling elite, mocked comments that he had betrayed his own.
"The odd fool will tell me that I have done the Kikuyu community a great disservice by messing things up when it was 'their turn to eat'," he told The Standard in a separate interview. "I always remind such people that my employment contract did not say Kikuyu Incorporated at the top. I was employed by the Kenyan people."