Living large - Kenya style

2006-01-30 22:19

Nairobi - Kenya's current government has spent millions of dollars on high-end luxury vehicles largely for the personal use of senior officials since coming to power three years ago, pledging to do away with waste and crack down on corruption, a new report said on Monday.

As the east African nation reels from fresh graft allegations against several cabinet ministers, corruption watchdog Transparency International and the state-run Kenya national commission on human rights said the government had spent $12.2m on pricy cars.

"The shocking finding is that the amount spent on the luxury cars is just about the same amount that was allocated under (a development scheme) for 31 of the country's poorest constituencies," said the report entitled Living Large: Counting the Cost of Official Extravagance in Kenya.

"It is cruel that in a country where poverty is so rampant, our leaders' appetite for luxurious living continues to be indulged," it said.

About 60% of Kenya's 32 million population lives on less than one dollar a day and up to four million people are now estimated to be in dire need of food assistance as they suffer from a searing drought that has ravaged east Africa.

"Perhaps even more harmful than the monetary loss is the damage that such wasteful expenditure causes by seriously undermining other reforms," the report said. "Perceptions do matter. Conspicuous consumption builds resentment in society and ridicules efforts aimed at securing external financial support.

"Because the line between such expenditure and corruption is also very thin, senior government officials continue to be perceived as corrupt," it added.

Between January 2003, when President Mwai Kibaki was sworn in as the country's third president, and September 2004, the government bought 57 Mercedes Benz luxury sedans and sport utility vehicles, 42 Land Cruisers, 17 Mitsubishi Pajeros, 13 Nissan Terranos, nine Nissan Patrols, three Range Rovers, two Ford Discoveries and a Land Rover Freelander, the report said.

Over that period, the top three offending ministries were the High Court, which spent $1.1m, the ministry of roads and public works, $911 750, and the ministry of water resources management, $662 000, it said.

The report is likely to fuel already heightened anger against the government amid allegations made public last week that the vice-president, two sitting ministers and other current and former senior officials were involved in a scheme to bilk the state of more than $200m.

- SAPA