I refer to the Kenya Gazette Notice of 19th January 2007, in which the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission has reported that it did not establish commission of any offence following investigations into procurement irregularities in two contracts awarded to Messrs. Anglo Leasing & Finance Ltd. Following this, the KACC forwarded the file to the Attorney General with recommendation for closure of the investigation; which the Attorney General has dutifully accepted.

I share with all Kenyans of integrity, and those who believe in due process, deep disappointment at KACC’s conclusion and the readiness of the Attorney General to accept the same. As I declared in my statement of 19th September 2006, neither Mr. Justice Ringera, nor the government of President Mwai Kibaki, have shown any serious interest in pursuing the perpetrators of this scandal. Justice Ringera has made it clear to me on several previous occasions that no action will be taken on the perpetrators of this scandal before the General Election due this year, or next year if ever.

I would like to briefly respond to the four reasons offered by Justice Ringera and Mr. Wako in their conclusion.

First, as the duly mandated PS in charge of Governance and Ethics in the President's Office, it was my assigned responsibility to utilize the relevant government resources to carry out my work and be able to advise the President on matters relating to governance and corruption.  It is in that capacity that I used the resources of the Police and the KACC to investigate the Anglo-Leasing scams.  Senior investigators at the KACC worked with me on this.  Hussein Were, one of them, has also publicly stated that Justice Ringera and others in the KACC interfered with those investigations.  Even if I were not under the instructions of the President to enquire into the Anglo Leasing matter, I had every right as a taxpayer and citizen to investigate corruption as and where I found it.  That I am not an investigator does not wipe away the fact that billions of shillings of tax payer’s money was literally given away by senior government officials, including the Minister for Finance and the Vice President of Kenya. The fact remains that KACC seems totally unconcerned about this.  The fact still remains that President Kibaki has done nothing to end this charade, which I informed him about more than two years ago.

Second, the audio tapes of Kiraitu Murungi, which I made available to Justice Ringera and the KACC, were fully audible when presented to Hon. Uhuru Kenyatta, and the PAC. These were also transcribed and remain available for any further investigation or inquiry.  The technology exists for independent verification of the content of the tapes.  PAC conclusively found that the tapes establish an attempt at a cover-up by Kiraitu Murungi.  The question is why was Kiraitu Murungi involved in a cover up?  The Kenyan people should be aware that the PAC report of April 2006, at page 45 states: “The Committee accepts the evidence about the discussion between [John Githongo] and Hon. Murungi MP as authentic which is further supported by tape recorded conversation between them.  The Committee finds that there is credible evidence to suggest that Hon. Murungi MP gave protection to Anglo Leasing principals.  The Committee further finds that, based on Hon. Murungi’s various discussions, the principals behind Anglo Leasing projects were probably a front for persons within President Kibaki’s administration.”  The Gazette Notice is silent on this last point.  Who is Anglo Leasing fronting for?

Third, in March last year, Professor Mutua and I met with Justice Ringera and the KACC for two days in London.  I gave them extensive testimony and later provided them with a statement signed by both Professor Mutua and myself. This testimony was taken at the Kenya High Commission in London, in a session that I had requested be audio-recorded. Justice Ringera has never explained why unlike those of the PAC sessions, these particular recordings failed.  I am not persuaded that Justice Ringera did not deliberately conceal or erase the recordings of my statement to him, in view of the fact that he told me to my face, in the presence of Prof. Mutua and Hussein Were, that those responsible for Anglo Leasing would never be prosecuted before the 2007 election, if ever.

It is clear to me that this action by Justice Ringera and Mr. Wako aims to cover-up the Anglo-Leasing scams and in the process exonerate its perpetrators. I have previously been reluctant to accept that the process of law prescribed in our nation’s statutes and the specific provisions at Justice Ringera’s disposal at KACC, could so brazenly be subverted by a few dishonest individuals in pursuit of narrow self-interest. I now realise that I was deeply mistaken in this belief. 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. 

The closure timing is curious.  KACC states that it recommended closure on 9th November last year?  Murungi was appointed to cabinet a week later.  That was more than two months before the AG accepted KACC's recommendations four days ago on 19.01.2007. Why the haste to reappoint him.  What if the AG had not accepted KACC's recommendation?  Who is the legal advisor to the President?

Soon enough, Kenyans will establish without a shadow of a doubt, the truth in my assertions relating to Anglo leasing and other similar attempts to loot our country’s wealth by this government. My personal prayer, and the foundation of my steadfast conviction, is that the time has come when every Kenyan will treasure this Nation’s wealth and resources as his or her legacy and not a gravy train to loot. At such a time, Kenyans will not be forced into the kind of situations that I have faced over the last close to two years. 

Anglo Leasing is real and not imagined.  It is not limited to the two contracts (passport and forensic laboratory).  It is a fraudulent series of 18 contracts amounting to over 50 billion shillings that remain unresolved.  It implicates the Vice President and other senior members of the Government of Kenya.  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 starting with that of Ambassador Muthaura in June 2004, and culminating with yesterday’s KACC gazette Notice.  Nothing in the gazette notice changes the facts.  It is indisputable that on 8th September 2003 the Vice President approved the passport deal.  On 2nd October 2003 then Minister for Finance Mwiraria did the same.  The Attorney General approved both contracts, and now purports to close the files on the cover-up.  When are they, and their appointing authority, the President, going to take personal responsibility for approving a contract with a non-existent company?  When are they going to be made personally responsible?  It is time the Kenyan people held their Government to account.

 

John Githongo
Saturday, 20 January 2007