By Alex Ndegwa
PLO Lumumba is the new sheriff in town. The passion and zeal with which he is pursuing corruption cases in the early stages of his tenure is remarkable.
The constitutional lawyer, re-known for his gift of garb, could easily have been mistaken for all talk without action. But anyone who had fancied Lumumba a safe bet to go easy on corruption had better do some soul searching.
Unlike the flamboyant John Harun Mwau and the Shakespearean Justice Aaron Ringera before him, Lumumba's tenure as the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC) director is already causing too much discomfort.
Both Mwau and Ringera – the former heading KACC's precursor in the 90s, the Kenya Anti-Corruption Authority (Kaca) – share the ignominy of having been run out of office with public confidence in the anti-corruption drive at its lowest.
The new Narc government – elected on an anti-graft platform – in April 2003 enacted the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act and the Public Officer Ethics Act.
The Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act, besides repealing the anti-corruption legislation in force since 1956, established KACC.
President Kibaki in September 2004 appointed Justice Aaron Ringera the director.
Advisory board
The Act also established the Kenya Anti-Corruption Advisory Board tasked with recommending suitable persons for appointment as director and assistant directors. This provision saw Parliament six years later flex its muscles to thwart the President's unilateral reappointment of Justice Ringera.
After Ringera's posting at KACC, the appointment of John Githongo, head hunted from Transparency International, as the anti-corruption tsar based at State House, sent signals corruption is an unwanted visitor.
That impression did not last long. Anglo Leasing – that refers to a dozen scandalous security-related procurement deals – came knocking. The scandal is alleged to have started in the previous regime. But the big boys in the new administration happily inherited the shady projects and nurtured them to super pet-projects.
Githongo increasingly found himself on his own in the anti-corruption war. When the Anglo Leasing falling out proved too dangerous for his comfort, he eventually fled to exile in the United Kingdom.
In February 2006, Finance Minister David Mwiraria and his Justice colleague Kiraitu Murungi were forced out of office because of public pressure. The two were later cleared and reappointed.
Dr Chris Murungaru, who served as Internal Security minister at the time, was dropped from the Cabinet reconstituted by President Kibaki following the humiliating defeat in the 2005 constitutional referendum.
Anglo Leasing saga
But the Government did not regain from the credibility crisis caused by the Anglo Leasing saga.
By the time Ringera's term expired in 2009, the general perception was that his tenure at KACC was a disappointment and the 'big fish' had got away with mega corruption scandals as the Goldenberg and Anglo Leasing.
Such dissatisfaction was evident any move to extend his term would attract hostility. Yet President Kibaki risked and paid the price. After a standoff in which Parliament threatened to disband KACC if Ringera stayed on, the Executive retreated and Ringera quit in September 2009.
Two of the directors appointed alongside him in 2004, Ms Fatuma Sichale (Legal Services) and Smokin Wanjala (Research, Policy and Preventive Services), had resigned earlier.
While announcing his resignation, Ringera quoted William Shakespeare: "All the world's a stage, and all the men and the women merely players, they have their exits and their entrances, and one man in his time plays many parts."
And he sought to explain the part he played while at the helm. KACC, he said, had investigated and recommended the prosecutions of eight ministers, four MPs, 11 permanent secretaries, 65 directors and heads of public institutions, seven chairmen of boards of public institutions, and 96 other senior management officers of public institutions. But critics were unimpressed with the statistics without any of the big fish behind bars.
The assistant director in charge of Finance and Administration John Mutonyi took over as acting director until Lumumba's appointment in July last year.
The fight against corruption is as old as the country's independence.
Kenya, according to information posted on KACC's website, had the Prevention of Corruption Act (Cap. 65) from August 1956.
First director
The Act was enforced by the Police Department but graft flourished over the years. In1993, an anti-corruption squad within the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) was formed. It was disbanded two years later.
In 1997, the Act was amended to provide for the establishment of KACA. Mwau, now Kilome MP, was appointed the first director of KACA in December 1997.
He was suspended after being in office for only six months. A judicial tribunal eventually removed him from office. Mwau, a wealthy businessman, recently resigned as Transport assistant minister after being named on a list of four MPs being investigated for alleged drug trafficking.
Justice Ringera succeeded Mwau in March 1999. But two years later, a court case challenging the legality of KACA threw another spanner into the works.
On December 22, 2000 the High Court ruled the existence of KACA undermined the powers conferred on the Attorney General and the Commissioner of Police by the Constitution.
Further the High Court heard that the statutory provisions establishing the anti-graft agency were in conflict with the Constitution. KACA was buried, dampening efforts to fight graft, until the election of the Narc Government.
The hopes were short-lived as it has been a tale of broken promises, a narrative all too familiar in the times of the coalition Government.
The country has sunk deeper in sleaze. Scams like the controversial sale of the Grand Regency, the maize scandal, free primary education scam, looting of funds for displaced persons, irregular issuance of immigration permits, the brazen inflation of the purchase price for a city cemetery and scandalous deals in the Water ministry. The list is endless.
Source: The Standard | Online Edition
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