Corruption in Kenya

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Political corruption in the post-colonial government of Kenya has had a history which spans the era of the Jomo Kenyatta and Daniel arap Moi's KANU governments to the Mwai Kibaki's NARC government. In the Corruption Perceptions Index 2005 Kenya is ranked 144th out of 159 countries for corruption (least corrupt countries are at the top of the list). It is estimated the average urban Kenyan pays 16 bribes per month. Most of these bribes are fairly small but large ones are also taken — bribes worth over 50,000 Kenyan shillings (€600, USD$700) account for 41% of the total value. There is also corruption on a larger scale with each of the last two regimes being criticised for their involvement.^[1]

1 Corruption
2 Security contracts
3 See also
4 External links
5 References

[edit] Corruption

The longest-running is the Goldenberg scandal ^[2], where the Kenyan government subsidized exports of gold, paying exporters in Kenyan Shillings (Sh) 35% over their foreign currency earnings. In this case, the gold was smuggled from Congo. The Goldenberg scandal cost Kenya the equivalent of more than 10% of the country's annual GDP.

In 1998, political scientist Mutahi Ngunyi's NGO - Series for Alternative Research in East Africa (SAREAT) engaged John Githongo to edit a regional political economy magazine, East African Alternatives^[3]. The magazine folded after an audit instigated by the lead donor Ford Foundation found suspected misappropriation and collusion on the part of Ngunyi, who was executive director of SAREAT and Dr Jonathan Moyo, who was the programme officer at the Ford Foundation in charge of disbursing the resources to the NGO. They have both been sued and the matter is still in court. It is known that the Ford Foundation has accepted Githongo's offer to be a prosecution witness in the case.

A Sh360 million helicopter servicing contract in South Africa^[4]. Military officers had argued that the contract was too extravagant and servicing the helicopters could be done locally. Kenya Air Force (KAF) went ahead to spend Sh108 million as a down payment for servicing the Puma helicopters, whose tail number is logged as 418 at Denel Aviation, a South African firm.

In 2003, the military was split over plans to buy new Czech fighter jets^[4]. The plan to buy the jet fighters would have cost taxpayers Sh12.3 billion.

A Sh4.1 billion Navy ship deal ^[4]. A Navy project was given to Euromarine, a company associated with Anura Pereira, the tender awarded in a process that has been criticised as irregular. The tender was worth Sh4.1 billion. Military analysts say a similar vessel could have been built for Sh1.8 billion.

Chamanlal Kamani had been involved in a supply contract, as Kamsons Motors. ^[5] Kampsons tendered for the supply of Mahindra Jeeps to the Police Department in the mid 1990s for close to Sh1 million (US$13,000) each, at a time when showrooms would have charged customers a sixth of the price. Moreover, the vehicles were being bought for a government department and were therefore imported duty free. Few of the more than 1,000 units that were imported over several years are in service today.

The Kamanis were also involved in a deal to build a CID forensic laboratory. On June 7, 2004 an amount of $4.7 million was wired back. The payment was a refund against the money paid for the Criminal Investigations Department forensic laboratory. ^[6]. Another Euro 5.2 million was paid back in respect of the E-cop project, which involved computerisation of the police force and the installation of spy cameras in Nairobi by Infotalent Systems Private Limited. ^[6]

The Prisons department lost $3 million after contracting Hallmark International, a company associated with Mr Deepak Kamani of Kamsons Motors, for the supply of 30 boilers. ^[5] Only half of the boilers were delivered – from India and not the United States as had been agreed.

The construction of Nexus, a secret military communication centre in Karen, Nairobi ^[4]. The Government spent Sh2.6 billion (US$36.9 million) to construct the complex. Three years later, military personnel have not moved into the centre. A phantom company, Nedermar BV Technologies, which is said to have its headquarters in Holland, implemented the secret project situated along Karen South Road. Nedermar is linked to businessman Anura Pereira. However, Pereira has denied this. The tendering process for the Nexus project was circumvented as DoD's Departmental Tender Committee. Funding for the project was made through the Ministry of Transport and Communications. The complex is currently headed by Colonel Philip Kameru. Nexus was first meant to be an ammunition dumpsite before it was turned into a military communication and operations centre. Construction continued without any site visits by either the DoD staff or Ministry of Public Works officials. The Nexus project was implemented during the tenure of General Joseph Kibwana.

In 2005 plans to buy a sophisticated £20 million passport equipment system from France ^[7] ^[8]. Here government wanted to replace its passport printing system. The transaction was originally quoted at 6 million Euros from François Charles Oberthur of Paris - the world's leading supplier of Visa and MasterCards, but was awarded to a British firm, the Anglo-Leasing and Finance Company Limited, at 30 million Euros, who would have sub-contracted the same French firm to do the work. Despite the lack of competitive tendering Anglo Leasing was paid a "commitment fee" of more than £600,000. Anglo Leasing's agent is a Liverpool-based firm, Saagar Associates, owned by a woman whose family has enjoyed close links with senior officials in the Moi regime. Company records show Saagar Associates is owned by Mrs Sudha Ruparell, a 47-year-old Kenyan woman. Mrs Ruparell is the daughter of Chamanlal Kamani, the 72-year-old multimillionaire patriarch of a business family which enjoyed close links with senior officials in the Moi regime. Anglo Leasing made a repayment of Euro 956,700 through a telegraphic transfer from Schroeder & Co Bank AG, Switzerland on May 17, 2004. ^[6]

The local chapter of Transparency International and the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR), a government body released a report in February, 2006, stating that between January 2003 and September 2004, the National Rainbow Coalition government spent about $12-million on cars that were mostly for the personal use of senior government officials^[9]. The vehicles included 57 Mercedes-Benz, as well as Land Cruisers, Mitsubishi Pajeros, Range Rovers, Nissan Terranos and Nissan Patrols. The $12-million substantially exceeded what the government spent over the 2003/04 financial year on controlling malaria -- "the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in Kenya", says the report.

In late February 2006, the leading newspaper The Standard ran a story claiming that president Mwai Kibaki and senior opposition figure Kalonzo Musyoka had been holding secret meetings. On March 2 at 1:00am local time (2200 UTC on the 1st), masked gunmen carrying AK-47s raided multiple editorial offices of The Standard, and of its television station KTN. They kicked and beat staff members, forcibly took computers and transmission equipment, burned all the copies of the March 2nd edition of the newspaper, and damaged the presses. At KTN, they shut down the power, putting the station off the air. Initially, the Kenyan information minister claimed no knowledge of the raid, but it has since revealed that Kenyan police were responsible. The Ministry of the Internal Security later stated that the incident was to safeguard state security. "If you rattle a snake you must be prepared to be bitten by it," John Michuki said. Three journalists at The Standard, arrested after the critical story was printed, are still being held without charge. ^[10] ^[11] The story now also features the bizarre case of two Armenian businessmen, mocked in the press for their taste for heavy gold chains, watches and rings, referred to as Mercenaries, who the opposition says led the raid and had shady dealings with Kibaki's government.^[12]

In November 2006, the government was accused of failing to act on a banking fraud scam worth $1.5bn involving money laundering and tax evasion, reported by whistle-blowers as early as 2004. Investigators believe sums worth 10% of Kenya's national income are involved. A recent auditor's report says the scale of the operations "threatens the stability of the Kenyan economy".^[13]

In November 2006, British Foreign Office minister Kim Howells warned, that corruption in Kenya is increasing the UK's exposure to drug trafficking and terrorism. "People can be bought, right from the person who works at the docks in Mombasa up to the government. (...) This weakness has been recognised by drug-traffickers and probably by terrorists too." Said Howells for the BBC.^[14]

[edit] Security contracts

Listed in Githongo's dossier^[15] are a number of companies that won security-related contracts :-

Payee	Purpose	Amount (millions)	Signatories	Date signed
Anglo Leasing	Forensic LAB - CID	USD 54.56	PS-Treasury PS-Internal Security OP	16 August 2001
Silverson Establishment	Security Vehicles	USD 90	PS-Treasury PS-Internal Security OP	16 August 2001
Apex Finance	Police Security	USD 30	PS-Treasury PS-Internal Security OP	9 February 2002
LBA Systems	Security-MET	USD 35	PS-Treasury	7 June 2002
Apex Finance	Police Security	USD 31.8	PS-Treasury PS-Internal Security OP	14 June 2002
Universal Satspace	Satellite Services	USD 28.11	PS-Treasury PS-Transport	11 July 2002
First Mechantile	Police Security	USD 11.8	PS-Treasury PS-Transport	11 July 2002
Apex Finance Corp	Police Security	USD 12.8	PS-Treasury PS-Internal Security OP	12 July 2002
LBA Systems	Prison security	USD 29.7	PS-Treasury	19 November 2002
Nedemar	Security	USD 36.9	PS-Treasury PS-Transport	19 November 2002
Midland Bank	Police security	USD 49.65	PS-Treasury	29 May 2003
Naviga Capital	Oceanographic vessel	EUR 26.6	PS-Treasury	15 July 2003
Empressa	Oceanographic vessel	EUR 15	PS-Treasury	15 July 2003
Euromarine	Oceanographic vessel	EUR 10.4	PS-Treasury	15 July 2003
Infotalent	Police security	EUR 59.7	PS-Treasury PS-Internal Security OP	19 November 2003
Apex Finance Corp	Police security	EUR 40	PS-Treasury PS-Internal Security OP	17 December 2003
Ciaria Systems Inc	Design, maintain satellite NSIS	USD 44.56	PS Treasury Director NSIS	20 January 2004