Letters

Eyebrows are being raised over the Kibaki Government’s denial on what it knows about the Kroll report on looting during Mr Moi’s reign, as leaked to the Guardian newspaper recently. But this denial cannot be defence for a government that has consistently spent taxpayers’ money on commissions and investigations, only to leave their recomendations unimplemented.

The current case is a conspiracy by the Government to deny Kenyans the vital information. What is surprising is that when the UK government expressed willingness to help in recovering assets said to have been acquired through the international corruption network of the Moi era, the Government did not show any interest, hoping that the issue would soon die away.

Why the silence after the Government spent a lot of money to contract the investigators? Not many years ago, then Justice minister Kiraitu Murungi said the Government had almost got to the bottom of the issue of stolen loot stashed away in foreign banks, only to beat a retreat and say it was impossible to recover the money.

If the British government was willing to help, like it did in the recovery of the Abacha billions, one wonders why its Kenyan counterpart, which would have made political capital out such a breakthrough, decided to suddenly keep quiet. It is interesting what more information the Government is sitting on that it is not comfortable in sharing with the public. The Government should explain to Kenyans why it has the audacity to spend the taxpayers’ money without anything to show for it.

Kenyans still remember how so much money was spent on collecting evidence from former Ethics permanent secretary John Githongo from abroad in the Anglo Leasing scandal probe, only for the Government to dismiss its former top official. What of the Kiruki commission on the saga of the alleged Artur brothers?

Coming so close to the elections, and with the Kibaki administration having embraced almost all elements of the Nyayo era, including Mr Moi himself, one wonders why the Kroll report, which claims that Moi’s sons and close associates siphoned away billions of taxpayers’ money, was never acted upon. Was the Government’s silence in exchange for Mr Moi’s support for President Kibaki?

MUGURE ANNE, Kabete.