Monday, January 22, 2007

Does ODM-Kenya Have Big Plans For John Githongo?

The former permanent secretary for governance and ethics, John Githongo has yet again taken a swipe at the Kibaki administration raising more questions than answers as to why he fired the salvo at the beginning of an election year.

Most interesting is that the former anti-corruption czar does not release any new information in his latest statement to the two leading newspapers in the country, the Daily Nation and the East African Standard (and only vows to do so in the near future).

It therefore came as no surprise when the burly Githongo was asked about the rumours at ODM-Kenya to the effect that the party has lined him up for the post of head of the public service and secretary to the cabinet should they ascend to power.

Githongo vehemently denied the 'talk' and said he had not reached any deal with the ODM-Kenya leaders and answered with a question: who in ODM would want to work with him after his tenure with Kibaki which saw him being uncompromising when it came to corruption.

Another school of thought says that Githongo who is considered a hero by majority of Kenyans is the perfect person to be used in an anti-Kibaki campaign (the emphasis is on the word "used"). Not only is he seen as being a man of probity, but he also has the ammunition to politically bury his former boss.

The sly ODM-Kenya brigade know this only too well and they are bound to try their best to get to use him to 'finish' Kibaki. However it is clear that many of the corrupt characters within ODM will not be as naïve as to want him anywhere near such an influential and powerful position if they form the next government.

Githongo has already indicated that he is homesick and would be glad to return home not to mention that the English weather has a bad effect on those who come from the tropics as the cold there is known to be almost unbearable sometimes.

Word is out that the last has not been heard from Githongo who is said to be preparing another detailed dossier on how senior government officials fleeced billions of shillings from public coffers through dubious procurement contracts. Githongo would want us to believe that he has left the most damning and juiciest for the end.

In the much talked about Anglo Leasing scandal which Githongo exposed, the government committed almost Sh 50 billion to 18 clearly dubious contracts with non-existent companies for the supply of goods which were never delivered yet some payments had already been effected.

Most of these deals included defense contracts including acquiring a boat for the Kenyan navy and telecommunication gear for the police along with the construction of a military command post in the Karen area known as project 'NEXUS'.

Vice president Moody Awori, Minister Kiraitu Murungi, his former cabinet colleagues Chris Murungaru and David Mwiraria along with Attorney General Amos Wako were implicated in the multi million scandals but nothing much has been done to date.

Murungi was sacked but recently reinstated by Kibaki while Murungaru and Mwiraria are still in the cold with Murungaru facing a court case arisising from the deals.

The Anglo Leasing scandal is probably the worst thing that ever happened to Kibaki's presidency and will obviously dent the legacy which the London-School-of-Economis- trained economist wanted to leave behind.

This will be the excess baggage that he will have to carry as he prepares for his re-election later this year in a polls that he may lose mainly due to the scandal which implicated his bosom friends who also happened to be senior government officials at the time.

Githongo resigned his position and fled the country as a result of the scandal. He claimed he received death threats and warnings to stop pursuing the matter by senior cabinet ministers including Murungi who was recently reinstated and given back his old ministry of energy to the chagrin of majority of Kenyans.

Having been elected on an anti corruption platform, the Kibaki administration could easily lose the forthcoming elections on account of the Anglo Leasing scandal and who better to remind Kenyans of that multi million dubious deal than John Githongo himself.

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Information On How Two Presidents Of Kenya Accumulated Vast Wealth And How The Third Broke A Promise To Stop The Madness

It is said that birds of the same feather tend to flock together. Thus it has not surprised anybody that families of the two first presidents of Kenya, namely President Jomo Kenyatta and President Daniel Arap Moi have been very close for sometime now. But what has worried, shocked and really puzzled many is the recent developments that have seen a president elected by Kenyans mainly on the promise of dealing with the political ruling class, now openly warming up to them and their ways. It should be obvious that you do not deal with corruption without touching on the political ruling class.

It raises questions on President Kibaki that will probably be best answered an analyzed when he is out of power.

However for the record, Kenya's first president accumulated land like there was no tomorrow and his kitchen cabinet dealt ruthlessly with anybody who dared stand in their way. That was why many Kenyans supported the ascending into power of a simple former Kalenjin teacher who had to be persuaded for days on end to enetr politics in the first place. Many saw Moi as the sort of character that would never fit it with the emerging political ruling class, and therefore one who would break the country out of the dangerous foundation of looting laid by the first president. Alas, it was not to be. Where the first president had an appetite for rich fertile land (the old man would lick his lips whenever he talked about arthi yenye rotuba meaning fertile land) the second had an insatiable appetite for companies and businesses.

Here is a transparency International list of companies still owned by former President Moi and his associates and proxies;


1.Hostrade World (K)

2.Sian Roses Ltd

3.Mugoya Construction (recently placed under receivership)

4.Chemusian Company

5.Fresh Produce Ltd.

6.Equity Stock Brokers

7.Kent Ship Maritime

8.First Force Security Service

9.Regent Management

10.Signon Freight Ltd

11.Cartrack Kenya Ltd

12.Trade World Kenya

13.Sielei Properties Ltd

14.Giant Holdings Ltd

15.Revak Ltd.

16.Sunbury Investments

17.Sadburu Investments

18.Giant Forex Bureau

19.Westfield Intern Ltd.

20.Chesco Ltd.

21.Ha.mpstead Enterprises

22.Metipso Services Ltd.

23.Maternity Shop



Companies owned by The President's key advisor - Nicholas Biwott
1.Kobil Petroleum

2.Barsirim Investment

3.Kipsinende Farm

4.Rono Ltd

5.BIDCO

6.HZ Construction & Engineering

7.LZ Engineering

8.Yaya Centre

9.Uhuru Highway Development


The President's son - Raymond Moi
Hamco Ltd

The President's son - Philip Moi
1.Paradise Holdings

2.Sheraton Holdings

3.Kahuru Investors

4.General Commodity Dealers

5.Kiharu Investors

6.Concord Holdings

7.Panafcon Engineering

8.Tiger Farm Ltd

9.Ecta Kenya Ltd

10.Syndicate Industries

11.Jutila Enterprises

12.Kimunyu Coffee Plant


Former President Daniel arap Moi
1.AmBank

2.Bain-Hogg Insurance Brokers

3.Lion of Kenya Insurance Company

4.lnsurance Company of East Africa (ICEA)

5.A ranch in Laikipia

6.A large farm in Eldoret

7.A Dairy Farm in the Rift Valley

8.American Life lnsurance Company (K) (ALICO)

9.Kobil/Kenol Petroleum

10.Nairobi Airport Services

11.Transnational Bank

12.The Standard Group Including Kenya Television Network

13.Farms in Kabarak, Sacho, Cherengani, Kilgoris, Mau Narok and Trans Nzoia

14.Rai Plywood of Eldoret

The fascinating thing about this list is that it is not complete. It is estimated to cover only about 30% of the full, complete list. Secondly it is useful to remember that Raila Odinga is on record for defending former President Moi when the then new Narc government wanted to recover most of these assets on behalf of the people of Kenya.

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Samuel Gichuru's Woes: Does Former KPLC Boss Really Have Aids?

One of the mysteries that will hopefully be solved in the near future is how one Samuel Gichuru has remained a free man even after a 2003 probe into the financial mismanagement of the giant Kenya Power And Lighting under his tenure as the managing director unearthed numerous irregularities.

An extremely hilarious incident took place the other day when shortly after a divorce case involving Gichuru—that mainly centered on financial settlement—went public, it was reported that the KACC was investigating the former power boss. I say hilarious because it would seem that this so-called commission that is using up millions every month in taxpayers money, is filed with staffers who comfortably sit in their offices and reads the newspapers to look for whom to prosecute. This happens as the big looters get "cleared" to re-occupy public office that they left only a few months previously under intense public pressure.

There is no doubt that Gichuru's vast wealth, now being fought over by women seemingly emerging from the woodwork, was accumulated during his tenure at Electricity House.

There were many rather creative ways Gichuru and his cronies within the company came up with to raise extra revenue to keep the largest power distribution company in East Africa running amid massive looting. For instance the charge for reconnection of disconnected electricity rapidly rose within a very short time and so did the efficiency in disconnecting electricity right n the dot when the due date arrived.

It is said that another scheme involving insurance coverage for the vast valuable assets of the state corporation also put a lot of money into Gichuru's pockets. As did sales of generators during the power crisis of the year 2000. Even the purchase of transformers at inflated prices (very clever because how many people would know the correct price for a transformer?) helped lace the pockets of the KPLC boss.

Every man who suddenly comes into unlimited wealth tends to end up in some vice. For Gichuru it was always obvious what that vice was. It was women. It is from this weakness that the then fledging new gutter press cashed in, in a major way the late 90s and beyond. It reached point where any new gutter press publisher would simply typeset a Gichuru story detailing his escapades with somebody's wife and they would then go to Electricity House and collect Kshs 100,000. Incidentally this is how one of the most popular and widely read weekly gutter press newspapers was launched.

The consequence of this behavior apart from the court cases is now said to be Aids. It is claimed that the former KPLC boss is HIV positive and this is one of the reasons why there seems to be a desperate battle for his estate being waged by at least three women.

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