BREAKING NEWS...
In a major development on the controversial Anglo-leasing scandal, Kenyan Finance Minister David Mwiraria has resigned today to pave way for investigations. It is not the nature of this blog to break news, but this is an important new development that we are already analyzing.
David Mwiraria is one of the closest and longest serving allies of President Kibaki. The former minister said he was resigning to pave way for investigations. President Kibaki is said to have accepted the resignation.
This is historical because Kenyan Ministers never resign, whatever the scandal whatever the circumstances. Mwiraria is the first cabinet Minister to resign since 1991. Ironically it was Kibaki himself who resigned on Christmas day that year while in Mombasa on holiday, to form his DP political party.
However it remains to be seen whether this is simply a move to diffuse the mounting pressure on the government over Anglo leasing or a tactic borrowed from former President Moi (see yesterday’s post).
This blog will carry a full analysis of this new development tomorrow.
P.S. It is very significant to note that just yesterday Mwirari dismissed the Anglo Leasing report and said he would issue a comprehensive statement to the press next week after studying the allegations in more detail... Something changed in the few hours between yesterday and today.
At the same press conference yesterday, Mwiraria scoffed at the World Bank Threat to cut off aid to Kenya.
Very interesting post. I linked to it in a democracy round-up for my blog, DemoBlog, which covers democracy around the world. I linked to the page through my user name, above.
ReplyDeleteBest, Mary (Editor, DemoBlog)