The first prosecution witness in the Kimwarer-Arror dams case took to the stand once again yesterday at the Milimani Anti-Corruption Court. Charity Mui confirmed to the court that the former Managing Director, Kerio Valley Development Authority, David Kimosop, appointed her as Adhoc Technical & Evaluation Tendering Committee as the secretary. She was tasked with evaluating the projects’ tender documents.
“At no point was I consulted about the tendering process despite being a procurement expert,” she said. She will be re-examined by Special Prosecutor Taib Ali Taib before concluding her testimony in the next hearing.
Former Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich, Principal Secretary Kamau Thugge and six others are accused of flouting procurement procedures in awarding a contract worth more than $450 million. The money, allegedly paid to an Italian firm CMC de Ravenna, was allocated for the construction of two dams.
Kenya has a long history of corruption. But before we get to that, suffice it to say that corruption is flourishing in Kenya because the system has fashioned it to a level that is has become pervasive part of life. Most people believe corruption is a crime with a capacity to scuttle prosperity, but Kenyans are not most people.
In Chinua Achebe’s short story, The Voter, Ogbuefi Ezenwa, an apologist of the main character – Chief the Honorable Marcus Ibe – says: “We have climbed the Iroko tree today and would be foolish not to take down all the firewood we need.” Figuratively, we are the unsuspecting masses led by the predatory political bourgeois, Iroko tree is the coffers and firewood are the proceeds of the house of cards that is Kenya. Achebe’s mind saw way beyond failure of leadership in Nigeria.
The first recorded mega corruption case was dubbed the Ngei Maize scandal of 1965. It involved Paul Ngei, an independence hero and Minister of Marketing and Cooperatives in the government of Jomo Kenyatta. The commission of maize inquiry found that Ngei’s wife, Emma Ngei, was getting preferential treatment for her business through which she bought maize directly from farmers. The rest is neither here nor there. What could be added is that the scandal led to acute maize shortage in the country.
Speaking of maize scandals, in 2009, Kenya lost an estimated Sh2.2 billion in a cold scheme that threaten to bring down the high and mighty of Kenyan’s political establishment.
Another notable big scandal is the Goldenberg scandal of the 90’s where powerful persons in government salted away public money with impunity. The investigations have not amounted to much apart from ruckus. Exact amount of money lost is, as yet, close to three decades later, unclear, as lawyer Wachira Maina confirms in his report State Capture: Inside Kenya’s Inability to Fight Corruption.
According to Mr. Maina, at least 10 per cent of Kenya’s GDP is estimated to have been lost. Kamlesh Pattini and James Kanyotu reportedly the owner of Goldenberg International conceived a scheme that entailed exporting gold and diamond to three companies in Dubai and Switzerland. The deal was hatched on the misunderstanding that the two would be paid foreign exchange crunch as a result of poor export performance of leading foreign exchange earners (coffee, tea and tourism).
Consequently, the government introduced an export incentive plus an amount equivalent to their deposits in shillings. The 2006 Bosire Commission of Inquiry into the scandal concluded that up to Sh158.3 billion of Goldenberg money was transacted with 487 companies and individuals.
Two other recent big scandals include: (a) loss of an estimated Sh11.3 billion at National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) through a cabal that enjoys state protection (b) loss of estimated Sh10.5 billion between 2015 and 2018 at National Youth Service (NYS) in a choreographed web involving state officials and suppliers. Some of the suppliers are said to have supplied air, for which they were paid.
Kenya loses Sh1 trillion to corruption every year according to office of the Auditor General. East Africa Economic Outlook estimates that, one average, Africa’s youth live on less than $2 (Sh220). Kenya has one of the highest youth populations, with more than 20 per cent of its total population aged between 15 to 24 years. Nine out of every 10 Kenyans below the age of 35 per cent are unemployed and the labour force participation has dropped by one per cent in the last four years. As one Kenyan educator has noted, if Kenyans under the age of 35 comprised a single “tribe”, they would be 77 per cent of the total population.