Foreign Powers: What Role Did They Play In Exposing The Anglo Leasing Scandal?

Are The dangers of Kenya Becoming A ‘Yes’ Republic Real?

Former powerful internal security Minister Chris Murungaru’s press conference at the Serena Hotel was one event this week that journalists flocked into.

But in a way it was a disappointment for them because there was no major announcement. The embattled former minister did not say anything new. Even the wild allegations he made about foreign powers working for a change of government in Kenya was viewed as an elaboration of previous remarks that Murungaru has made. Others saw it as a desperate attempt to grasp at straws by a "drowning" man.

You see when somebody has a credibility problem, most of what they say is taken with a pinch of salt or worse still, ignored. More so for somebody like Murungaru who is rapidly running out of options.

However, as Kenyans become more politically aware, it is important that they also understand that foreign powers of the stature of Britain and the United States too frequently have their way in the internal affairs of developing nations like Kenya. And many times, they go beyond the usual carrot-and-stick diplomacy methods to achieve their goals.

Indeed recent events in the country point to the hand of an extremely powerful person or entity with no shortage of resources, working in the background. The mystery of how a newspaper that has for decades avoided publishing many politically damaging reports involving individuals suddenly reformed itself has yet to be solved. You do not just wake up one morning and decide on your own to take on the mighty government of Kenya. What raised eyebrows even more was the fact that usually such sensitive newspaper exposes do not mention names, even where they have enough evidence to do so. Instead the strategy is always to stir up things so that the players themselves will be provoked to name names. The Nation report went ahead and named names right from day one.

Kenyans will of course be forever grateful for what has happened (and to whoever played a hand in making it happen) because for the first time in history we have a real chance of dealing with the roots of corruption in high places once and for all. However in our self-centered world of today it is always prudent to ask oneself what your helper in times of distress has to gain even as you gratefully accept their assistance.

A telling statement issued by the World Bank and The United States this week further gives some vital clues as to what may be really happening behind the scenes. They have threatened to take further action on powerful individuals mentioned in the Githongo Anglo leasing dossier. (See report brief report at the end of this article)

Do not for a moment be fooled into thinking that such actions are motivated by an urge to give the people of Kenya a better life. The facts are that every government in the world already has its’ hands full dealing with the problems of their nationals - the people who elected them into office. They hardly have the time to put the welfare of the wananchi of a corrupt third world country into their crowded agenda.

Want proof? I’ll give it.

During the cold war, western powers were more than happy to keep numerous African dictators in power so as to counter the threat of communism. They even helped many of these dictators to come to power. They also assisted many of them to murder hundreds of thousands of their own nationals and conveniently looked the other way when the Aid they gave ended up in secret swiss accounts. When communism finally collapsed and policies suddenly changed, some of these dictators swiftly found that yesterday’s friends had turned into today’s arch-enemies.

When British Prime Minister Tony Blair recently suddenly started championing for more Aid money to be poured into Africa, he had not suddenly been transformed into another Mother Teresa. The truth, which you will hardly expect to find in any newspaper headline, is that the problem of illegal immigrants from Africa pouring into Europe in search of a better life has reached crisis proportions. This comes at a time when Western countries are facing serious and unprecedented unemployment and security problems for their own nationals. The only way to reverse this situation is to try and improve life in Africa. The idea is to pour in more money and gradually raise the standard of living in Africa and there will be less motivation for Africans to risk their lives crossing the ocean on a small dhow, headed to Europe. Careful arithmetic will show that in the long term this is a much cheaper option for many Western nations facing this problem. Careful observers will have noted that keeping out illegal immigrants has become an increasingly expensive exercise with countries like the United States carrying out increasingly costly patrols on its’ borders with Mexico. Not to mention the health care and enormous strain on all sorts of resources that unwanted immigrants usually cause.

In fact this policy decision could be linked to recent developments in Kenya. The last thing Blair and company would want is for their Aid money to end up in a couple of secret swiss accounts or in the pockets of some powerful cabinet ministers.

It is difficult to pinpoint for sure the exact policy priorities of our “helpers” which has caused them to get so involved in the internal affairs of Kenya. However it is safe to speculate that security in this age of terrorism and the massive and growing numbers of illegal immigrants are two main issues that have played a major hand.

The Problem With Our Foreign Friends…
I once hosted a person who had nowhere to live in my house, only for them to take over and become so powerful that I suddenly found myself being ruled in my own house. I woke up to the situation but found that getting them to move was not easy. That is the problem when you welcome into your “house” (accept help from) some of these Western powers. You could easily find yourself in serious trouble later.

And be aware that when diplomacy fails, as it usually does, many Western powers will not hesitate to use their deep pockets and even military might to get what they want.

Mercifully the world has now become such a small village that the age of military coups is now for all intents and purposes over. But more often than not, coups have always been financed by outside powers. Foreign interference can also be in the form of funds being pumped in to support a certain cause a foreign power favors (remember the Iran-contra scandal during the Reagan administration?) Imagine the impact of a few hundred thousand dollars in impoverished Africa.

People do not talk about it, but have you ever wondered how a civil war in a poverty stricken country rages for years? Have you asked yourself how people who cannot afford three square meals in a day can afford a gun and the bullets that go with it. Proceeds from the sale of a single AK47 assault rifle can feed a large African family for months.

For years the Americans tried every trick in the book to get President Moi out of power, including pouring massive funds to try and create a people’s popular revolt (like they helped do in the Philippines to remove dictator Marcos. Remember the man whose wife owned over 3,000 pairs of expensive ladies shoes?). Moi somehow outsmarted them every time. Some people would say you don’t outsmart a super power, it was simply the Almighty himself who refused.

So when Moi was finally defeated in 2002, former President Bill Clinton was very eager to meet the one person he viewed as having been at the forefront of it all - the man who succeeded where the mighty United States had failed. And that person according to him was President Mwai Kibaki.

Fellow Kenyans, even as we work to remove this corrupt government, let us be very aware of what is going on. We certainly don’t want to replace one problem with another, do we?

What The US Said About Punishing Corrupt Ministers

US envoy to Kenya William Bellamy said in Nairobi that the US was seriously considering what action to take against Ministers mentioned in connection to the Anglo Leecing scandal. It is believed one of the possible “punishments” will be issuing travel bans similar to the one against former powerful Internal security minister Chris Murungaru.

Bellamy was responding to enquiries by a local newspaper that wanted to know whether the same fate that had befallen Mr Murungaru (who can now not travel to the US or Britain) will befall other cabinet Ministers mentioned in the Anglo Leecing report.

At the same time World bank President, Paul Wolfowitz has promised to deal firmly with governments and officials involved in corruption in developing nations. Addressing staff of the Bank, Mr Wolfowitz said that the bank had with-held loans amounting to $143 million in aid to Kenya in particular. He was quoted as saying that the bank would move even more decisively and energetically” against corrupt governments.