The mad genius who first came up with the make-money-from-sugar-overnight scheme has to date made billions of shillings. They were of course close to the Moi administration and they hailed from the Coast.
However somebody in the Kibaki administration seems to have outdone them.
This is how the sugar deal was executed during the Moi era. Using their influence in government, the sugar baron or barons would ensure that virtually all sugar companies in the country closed for annual maintenance at the same time. This would cause a temporary shortage, which would then be promptly filled by imported sugar. There is plenty of cheap sugar out there and even neighboring Sudan produces sugar at a much cheaper cost than we do in Kenya. However the sugar barons prefer to import their sugar from sources that are further away where it is even cheaper.
The mark-ups and profits earned from these deals are mind-boggling and are in the triple digit million figures.
Now somebody else (or is it the same people?) in the Kibaki era has done even better. They've managed to somehow cause a major shortage in the market which had the effect of doubling the price of sugar which at one time was retailing for well over shs 100.
From the time of the Kanu era, well-connected individuals including members of the Moi family made millions of shillings by importing cheap sugar.
It is interesting that a furious minister for Agriculture Kipruto arap Kirwa warned sugar distributors and accused them of unscrupulous business practices and went further and ordered government owned sugar companies to sell the commodity directly to traders and bypass distributors but these does not seem to have brought the prices down to the desired levels. It is strange that the minister expected this move to have any impact in the market since many major outlets in the country buy sugar directly from the factory. For instance supermarkets, which sell a substantial volume of the commodity, have been ordering directly from factories since the early days of the now troubled Uchumi Supermarkets chain in the 70s when it was the only major supermarket in the country.
The minister has now opted for the alternative, which is to allow some selected companies to import the commodity cheaply from the common market for eastern and southern Africa COMESA region in a bid to stabilize the prices.
What Kenyans are finding weird is the fact that the minister is now accepting that there is a shortage when only recently he had said that local stocks were enough and the problem was hoarding.
Kirwa who is among the ministers in Kibaki's government that have amassed large fortunes over a very short period of time has been investigated by the Kenya anti corruption commission but nothing much came out from the investigations conducted last year.
Stakeholders in the industry read mischief on the minister's part and claim he wants to make money from those that he will license to import the commodity cheaply.
Others suspect that the whole saga maybe a ploy to raise money for the forthcoming general elections.
Meanwhile ordinary folks are suffering because, unfortunately, majority of Kenyans cannot go about their business every day without taking a cup of tea in the morning while there are millions of poor rural women who can't get any sleep without a cup of the same at night and all have now been forced to dig deeper into their pockets.
The other alternative is to consume the liquid without sugar, making it as tasteless as President Kibaki's administration has turned out to be.
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Elections in Kenya 2007: How Many MPs Will Make It Back To The House?
The current members of parliament are perhaps the greediest lot that Kenyans have seen since independence and it will take a miracle for even 10% of them to be re-elected come the general elections expected later this year.
When the legislators started their term in 2003, they were already overpaid earning close to 400,000 monthly in salaries and allowances but four years down the line they have increases their remunerations even further to almost Sh 1 million and are among the best paid law makers in the world.
This they did in complete disregard of the abject poverty in the country with about 70% of the people living on less than a dollar per day and have to make do with only one meal.
To add insult to injury, the legislators also set for themselves attractive perks like a sh 3 million car grant with the privilege of importing the vehicles duty free. Little wonder that when pedestrians see state-of-the-art vehicles speeding along streets of Nairobi the question they ask each other is which member of parliament is passing by as they are notoriously known for acquiring the biggest cars at the expense of tax payers yet they can also easily pass for the laziest lawmakers in the world.
Apparently, the only time that the legislators seem to agree wholesome on any issue is when they have bills in parliament proposing the increase of their pay.
As if that was not enough, during the last seating before the Christmas break, the MPs passed a bill to increase the president's salary from Sh 2 million to Sh 3.3 million in a move that saw president Kibaki reject the new package after a public outcry from the civil society and church leaders. But what is really strange is why the president did not order his foot soldiers to shoot down the bill while it was still in the house. As it is, there seems to have been some input from state house when it was still on the floor of the house.
Little did Kenyans know that the legislators were only setting the stage to secure their own sh 1.5 million each at the end of their five year term later this year in what they called a golden handshake.
This insensitivity among our lawmakers has also seen them draw lots of cash from the various committees they sit on in parliament not to mention the foreign trips that are so frequent and add no value to the debates or motions passed in the house.
What is most disheartening is that most of these legislators have little academic qualification with even a few of them being semi-illiterate and one wonders why they think they deserve to be paid so much money notwithstanding the sorry state of the majority of Kenyans.
This move has made the legislators so unpopular though many of them have invested wisely especially in real estate and will not live desperate lives when they are inevitably voted out later in the year.
Arrogance has also come along with the big perks and most of them have not only deserted their constituents but when cornered by hungry citizens are quick to dish hand outs while others simply ignore their employers with rude comments like they have made enough money and will not be blackmailed by the electorate.
The lawmakers have now resulted to philandering lifestyles and many of them have been seen picking up prostitutes at the notorious Nairobi red ligh disctrict of Koinange street and paying well for the services they get from the mostly underage call girls.
A common joke in the streets of Nairobi is that city prostitutes have raised their fees to fend off the ordinary citizens as they are now targeting the lawmakers only, since they have plenty of cash and a lot of free time for philandering.
Kenyans are well aware of all this and it remains to be seen how these outgoing legislators will explain themselves to the voters when the election campaigns kick off.
When the legislators started their term in 2003, they were already overpaid earning close to 400,000 monthly in salaries and allowances but four years down the line they have increases their remunerations even further to almost Sh 1 million and are among the best paid law makers in the world.
This they did in complete disregard of the abject poverty in the country with about 70% of the people living on less than a dollar per day and have to make do with only one meal.
To add insult to injury, the legislators also set for themselves attractive perks like a sh 3 million car grant with the privilege of importing the vehicles duty free. Little wonder that when pedestrians see state-of-the-art vehicles speeding along streets of Nairobi the question they ask each other is which member of parliament is passing by as they are notoriously known for acquiring the biggest cars at the expense of tax payers yet they can also easily pass for the laziest lawmakers in the world.
Apparently, the only time that the legislators seem to agree wholesome on any issue is when they have bills in parliament proposing the increase of their pay.
As if that was not enough, during the last seating before the Christmas break, the MPs passed a bill to increase the president's salary from Sh 2 million to Sh 3.3 million in a move that saw president Kibaki reject the new package after a public outcry from the civil society and church leaders. But what is really strange is why the president did not order his foot soldiers to shoot down the bill while it was still in the house. As it is, there seems to have been some input from state house when it was still on the floor of the house.
Little did Kenyans know that the legislators were only setting the stage to secure their own sh 1.5 million each at the end of their five year term later this year in what they called a golden handshake.
This insensitivity among our lawmakers has also seen them draw lots of cash from the various committees they sit on in parliament not to mention the foreign trips that are so frequent and add no value to the debates or motions passed in the house.
What is most disheartening is that most of these legislators have little academic qualification with even a few of them being semi-illiterate and one wonders why they think they deserve to be paid so much money notwithstanding the sorry state of the majority of Kenyans.
This move has made the legislators so unpopular though many of them have invested wisely especially in real estate and will not live desperate lives when they are inevitably voted out later in the year.
Arrogance has also come along with the big perks and most of them have not only deserted their constituents but when cornered by hungry citizens are quick to dish hand outs while others simply ignore their employers with rude comments like they have made enough money and will not be blackmailed by the electorate.
The lawmakers have now resulted to philandering lifestyles and many of them have been seen picking up prostitutes at the notorious Nairobi red ligh disctrict of Koinange street and paying well for the services they get from the mostly underage call girls.
A common joke in the streets of Nairobi is that city prostitutes have raised their fees to fend off the ordinary citizens as they are now targeting the lawmakers only, since they have plenty of cash and a lot of free time for philandering.
Kenyans are well aware of all this and it remains to be seen how these outgoing legislators will explain themselves to the voters when the election campaigns kick off.
Election 2007 Scorecard: How Does Narc-Kenya And President Kibaki Score On Corruption?
The traffic policeman still collects Sh 50 from every matatu that passes the road block while those fortunate (or is it less fortunate) to meet cops instead f thugs at night on their way home must part with Sh 100 or more to secure their release. Those applying for a passport will have to give the government clerk upwards of Sh 1,000 for their application to be given due attention.
These are just a tiny section of the networks of corruption that continue to thrive in Kenya every day in spite of the government's rather tired song that their policy is zero tolerance towards corruption.
There seemed to be a lull just after the 2002 elections and several traffic policemen and court officials were arrested and charged in court with corruption related offences but the steam seems to have run out as the old networks made a come back with a vengeance—so what happened?
Basically the pledge to fight corruption from the top did not quite take off. High level corruption among senior government officials and politicians is rampant and those that have been exposed by the media are yet to be prosecuted in courts of law. So why should any of the small scale corruption networks not flourish?
A good example is the Anglo leasing scandal where the government paid out billions of shillings to ghost companies for goods, which were never delivered.
To date, a cabinet minister who was linked to the cover up of the Anglo leasing scandal has been reinstated to the cabinet after being sacked when the heat was on.
Kiraitu Murungi who blames his woes on the media has even gone further to ask president Kibaki to reinstate his colleague, David Mwiraria who resigned to pave way for investigations.
That's why the war on corruption has been a very big joke in Kenya costing the tax payer large amounts of money as the Kenya anti corruption chief, Justice Aaron Ringera takes home a hefty salary of sh 2 million monthly with allowances making him the best paid public servant earning more than even the president.
To date the only prominent person taken to court over corruption is former powerful minister of internal security and provincial administration Dr Chris Murungaru who's matter is yet to be heard and determined.
The anti corruption czar says he has given the attorney general several files of prominent individuals for prosecution but the ever smiling AG, Amos Wako says the evidence in those files is insufficient to sustain prosecution.
President Kibaki has been constantly accused of failing to take decisive action on corruption like in many other pertinent issues but the hear no evil, see no evil president has as usual buried his head in the sand and prefers to talk about economic growth vision 2030 (or is it 20300?) and the free primary education program.
Corruption is nothing new to Kenyans and the problem has been with us since the pre-independence era but Kenyans voted president Kibaki with express instructions—on an anti corruption platform and are therefore deeply disillusioned on his failure to show initiative in tackling the vice that has literally torn apart the moral fiber of our society.
These are just a tiny section of the networks of corruption that continue to thrive in Kenya every day in spite of the government's rather tired song that their policy is zero tolerance towards corruption.
There seemed to be a lull just after the 2002 elections and several traffic policemen and court officials were arrested and charged in court with corruption related offences but the steam seems to have run out as the old networks made a come back with a vengeance—so what happened?
Basically the pledge to fight corruption from the top did not quite take off. High level corruption among senior government officials and politicians is rampant and those that have been exposed by the media are yet to be prosecuted in courts of law. So why should any of the small scale corruption networks not flourish?
A good example is the Anglo leasing scandal where the government paid out billions of shillings to ghost companies for goods, which were never delivered.
To date, a cabinet minister who was linked to the cover up of the Anglo leasing scandal has been reinstated to the cabinet after being sacked when the heat was on.
Kiraitu Murungi who blames his woes on the media has even gone further to ask president Kibaki to reinstate his colleague, David Mwiraria who resigned to pave way for investigations.
That's why the war on corruption has been a very big joke in Kenya costing the tax payer large amounts of money as the Kenya anti corruption chief, Justice Aaron Ringera takes home a hefty salary of sh 2 million monthly with allowances making him the best paid public servant earning more than even the president.
To date the only prominent person taken to court over corruption is former powerful minister of internal security and provincial administration Dr Chris Murungaru who's matter is yet to be heard and determined.
The anti corruption czar says he has given the attorney general several files of prominent individuals for prosecution but the ever smiling AG, Amos Wako says the evidence in those files is insufficient to sustain prosecution.
President Kibaki has been constantly accused of failing to take decisive action on corruption like in many other pertinent issues but the hear no evil, see no evil president has as usual buried his head in the sand and prefers to talk about economic growth vision 2030 (or is it 20300?) and the free primary education program.
Corruption is nothing new to Kenyans and the problem has been with us since the pre-independence era but Kenyans voted president Kibaki with express instructions—on an anti corruption platform and are therefore deeply disillusioned on his failure to show initiative in tackling the vice that has literally torn apart the moral fiber of our society.
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