News

The release of the findings of a parliamentary investigation into the Artur bothers saga this week was yet another reminder of how public money is wasted to cover up or make up for the failure of public institutions and key officials.

The report, prepared jointly by two committees, no less, did not tell the public anything they did not already know. It said that the Artur brothers were con-men and drug dealers who were brought to the country in a criminal conspiracy involving senior members of the government. This is hardly a great advance in knowledge. KENYANS ALREADY KNEW THAT for criminals of this nature to operate with impunity, armed and using public resources, they had to have serious connections in government.

What the committee has achieved is to put names where the Kiruki commission — another monumental waste of tax money — did not have the courage to and provide a blanket of immunity for the public to discuss a very shameful episode. The most important use of the report, however, is to demonstrate what a monstrous failure the Attorney-General, the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Commissioner of Police are. They were impotent and helpless in the face of two thugs with connections.

The AG, DPP and the Commissioner of Police should have significant difficulty, in our view, justifying their salaries in the face of this farce. Within the existing law, the AG had the power to order the arrest of the Armenians and their co-conspirators and the police had the power to comply with those instructions. He did not and the police became a part of that conspiracy, including taking part in an illegal raid against a media house. You do not need a commission of inquiry or a parliamentary committee to tell you that it is illegal to issue a foreign person with immigration documentation that by law they are not entitled to.

You do not require a commission of inquiry to tell you that it is beyond imagination to allow unfettered access to sensitive top security installations like airports to a foreign person who, even by their look, is clearly of dubious legal standing. Neither do you need to be told that it is illegal and beyond comprehension to incorporate such an individual into the police force and offer them bogus appointment as senior police officers. It beggars belief that no one noticed all these things and even worse that no one thought of doing anything about it.

THIS DEMONSTRATES THAT THE country is still hostage to dangerous circuits established in the corridors of power for the purposes of corruption and circumventing the law. It will do well to remember that a country can not develop in the context of this manner of lawlessness. Countries such as China and Singapore, which have clarity of thought, have an absolute commitment to law and order.

Fortunately, there is still an opportunity to provide all those concerned in this matter, including those who failed to do their jobs, a chance to account for their (in)actions. Happily, the law as it stand has numerous provisions, principally the Penal Code, which provide an adequate framework for such accountability. KENYANS WOULD EXPECT TOTAL intolerance to this manner of criminal conspiracy and if the officers concerned feel they can not do the job they should provide the opportunity for someone else who can to do so.