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The Movement for Political Accountability (MOPA) will on Friday morning host a thrilling debate that will parade all the aspiring candidates gunning for the top management seats in the forthcoming football elections. The event to be held at the Strathmore University will be the first of its kind in Kenya organized by MOPA in partnership with the Independent Electoral Board, Kenya Transition Initiative, Bunge la Mwananchi among others.
“We believe that the current state of football nationally is symptomatic of the pervasive culture of impunity as freedom from accountability. It is MOPA’s commitment to empowering, supporting and accompanying communities to demand accountability, and AfriCOG’s dedication to addressing structural causes of corruption and bad governance that informs our interest in football management in Kenya, and in particular the forthcoming elections.” Read a statement from MOPA.
Close to 200 key football stakeholders will be in attendance to vet the credentials of potential qualified and credible leaders committed to principles of accountability, transparency and delivery of results.

Link to the story
The Movement for Political Accountability (MOPA) will on Friday morning host a thrilling debate that will parade all the aspiring candidates gunning for the top management seats in the forthcoming football elections.

NAIROBI, Kenya, July 27- Football Kenya (FK) chairmanship aspirant and Gor Mahia FC chairman, Ambrose Rachier on Tuesday called on leaders from the clubs electorate to vote the candidate most conversant with the plight of players for the top post.

Rachier, who has the backing of Kenyan Premier League (KPL) clubs, has been consulting chairmen, secretaries, coaches and team managers of sides who will make up the electoral constituency during the August 13 polls since he handed in his nomination papers last week.

On Tuesday, the senior partner at his law firm met sports editors from various media outlets before addressing the press on his vision for the country’s football that is stagnating in the lower reaches of Fifa World Rankings.

“Talk to administrators of teams in the most far-flung parts of the country and in the lowest leagues and you will hear the plight of long-suffering leaders. I am saying that we must now stand up and be counted and vote in a football administration that will work for the rights and development of our clubs and players,” the Gor Mahia chairman charged.

“Our work is to keep our clubs afloat throughout the country. We are the ones that hurt when soccer is mismanaged. Now we have an opportunity to vote the right people to the top echelons of our game,” he added.

Rachier confirmed his attendance at Friday’s public debate organised by the Movement for Political Accountability (MOPA) at the Africa Centre for Open Governance where top contenders for the FK chairmanship will articulate their visions.

The discussion will be held at Nairobi’s Strathmore University.

Kenya Football Federation (KFF) chair, Sam Nyamweya, also confirmed his presence at the debate on Friday when he handed in his nomination papers to the Interim Electoral Board (IEB) that is managing the elections on behalf of the Government and world body Fifa.

“I want credible change for the country’s football since we have witnessed the damage mismanagement has caused for football in this country. I urge my fellow candidates to support the IEB so that we can get over with this process and move forward,” Nyamweya who has been involved in football administration for 15 years stated then.

Other candidates for the top post are Football Kenya Limited chairman, Mohammed Hatimy, Extreme Sports Limited CEO Hussein Mohammed and KFF vice-chair, Twaha Mubarak.

Meanwhile, it is emerging only nine candidates eyeing national seats at the forthcoming FK polls have met the obligation of presenting a valid tax certificate from Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA).

SuperSport.com reported on Tuesday that IEB had given the remaining aspirants until Friday to present the document or their names would be struck off the polls list.

A total of 39 candidates presented their nomination papers at the close of Monday’s deadline.

Link to the story: http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/sports/2011/07/27/rachier-rolls-off-fk-chair-campaign/
NAIROBI, Kenya, July 27– Football Kenya (FK) chairmanship aspirant and Gor Mahia FC chairman, Ambrose Rachier on Tuesday called on leaders from the clubs electorate to vote the candidate most conversant with the plight of players for the top post.

A parliamentary committee is on the spot for allegedly shielding a bank accused of tax evasion and money laundering involving billions of shillings.

In a report titled: “Smouldering Evidence: The Charterhouse Bank Scandal,” the Africa Centre for Open Governance accused the Committee on Trade and Finance of pushing for the bank’s reopening instead of investigating allegations against it.

Cleared the bank

“The conclusion could be made that the committee was not interested in the truth but was merely going through the motions to validate a pre-meditated decision,” the governance watchdog notes in the report published last week.

“It seemed odd that the Parliamentary Committee seemed to be lobbying for the re-opening of the bank in spite of continuing investigations,” it said.

It accused the Committee chaired by Nambale MP Chris Okemo of colluding with the Treasury, the Attorney General’s office, Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) and the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC) to cover up the scam.

The committee cleared the bank last year and recommended its re-opening. (READ: House team clears Charterhouse Bank)

Nominated MP Musikari Kombo on Wednesday said the committee was protecting Kenyans from compensating the bank.

“We realised the bank wanted to use the committee to push for compensation. To protect Kenyans, we recommended that the bank be re-opened so that taxpayers’ money was not used to pay compensation,” he said.

The MP, who sits on the committee, said it relied on evidence by Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, Attorney-General Amos Wako, KRA commissioner-general Michael Waweru and KACC’s John Mutonyi.

“If you were in the committee, I don’t know how you would have alleged tax evasion when KRA says there is none. CBK said they had no problems with Charterhouse.

“Wako said he had no problem with Charterhouse. Treasury said it had no problem with Charterhouse so we said, go ahead and re-open it,” he said.

Charterhouse Bank refused to comment on the report and threatened to sue this newspaper if it published the story.

“There is nothing new in the report. We will sue anybody who publishes the story,” said a top official at a public relations firm, which acts for the bank.

In the report, the watchdog criticised the committee for not investigating queries by audit firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

“The committee held surprisingly little discussion on Charterhouse even though there existed evidence from a credible audit firm of extensive malpractice,” it says.

“Relying on the accounts of officials who had manifestly contradicted themselves was unsafe,” the report noted.

The watchdog censured the committee for entertaining a petition by customers demanding its re-opening.

“How were the 35 customers able to organise to petition the National Assembly?” the report asks and calls for a scrutiny of the petitioners.

By PETER LEFTIE

Link to the article in the Daily Nation

A parliamentary committee is on the spot for allegedly shielding a bank accused of tax evasion and money laundering involving billions of shillings.

In a report titled: “Smouldering Evidence: The Charterhouse Bank Scandal,” the Africa Centre for Open Governance accused the Committee on Trade and Finance of pushing for the bank’s reopening instead of investigating allegations against it.

Kenya risks becoming a transit point and a haven for serious international crimes, including money laundering, a report released by a civil society and governance group has warned.

The Africa Centre for Open Governance (Africog) said money laundering was a crime that aided other crimes such as drug trafficking for which the country has recently received international attention.

Africog Executive Director Gladwel Otieno said political goodwill was needed if the country was to effectively fight international crimes.

“Some Kenyans have been named by the Obama administration as drug kingpins, a crime closely related to money laundering. This is an indicator of how the vice has taken root in the country,” said Otieno.

She said it was worrying that some public officers implicated in international crimes were still in office despite the Constitution being clear on the matter.

“Impunity still reigns in the country. Kenyans and the civil society must remain eternally vigilant and blow the whistle,” said Otieno.

Yesterday, constitutional lawyer and governance expert Wachira Maina who launched the report titled Smouldering Evidence: The Charterhouse Bank Scandal, said there was a systematic campaign to reopen the bank, which was closed in 2006.

Maina said three different audits undertaken between 2004 and 2006 by the Central Bank of Kenya raised serious questions about the operations of the bank.

“The investigation found strong indications that the bank’s clients were involved in both tax evasion and money laundering. The bank was also found to be violating the Banking Act,” said Maina.

He said money laundering involves making money that comes from illegal or criminal activity appear as if it came from legitimate sources and also converting proceeds from crime into assets that appear legitimate.

The report said Charterhouse facilitated money laundering by allowing certain customers to carry out unusually large cash transactions and/or split deposits and payments.

Otieno said the move by the Parliamentary Finance Committee to clear the bank of the money laundering allegations was suspect.

Former US ambassador Michael Ranneberger had alleged that the bank cost the Exchequer Sh20 billion in tax revenues.

By MUTINDA MWANZIA
Kenya risks becoming a transit point and a haven for serious international crimes, including money laundering, a report released by a civil society and governance group has warned.

More than a dozen related companies and businessmen used Charterhouse Bank as a conduit for money laundering, a new report by a corruption watchdog says, even as lawyers warned that failure to prosecute the perpetrators could undermine Kenya’s sovereign rating.

The report, which pieces together the complex network that the bank’s clients used to clean money, says Charterhouse deliberately let its customers open accounts without critical details like names, addresses or signatures – flouting the Know Your Customer regulations under which all commercial banks operate.

But the report by the Africa Centre for Open Governance also hits out at the Central Bank of Kenya, the financial services sector regulator, for failing to detect Charterhouse’s dubious operations for more than seven years.

The report, which has borrowed heavily from another one that forensic auditors prepared six years ago for the Central Bank, says incredibly huge sums of money were being deposited into some accounts in cash – enough to have caught the attention of any regulator, but the CBK turned a blind eye to it.

It gives the example of an account belonging to a businessman based in Butere, Western Kenya, that had a debit of Sh554 million and credit of Sh566 million over a 10 month period in 2006, clearly indicating that it was merely acting as a conduit for the money.

Even more telling is the fact that the money was being deposited in cash and there was no evidence of a business in Butere that could generate that kind of money in such a short period. The account had no details of what kind of business the holder dealt in.
Further evidence that the bank was being used for illegal financial transactions lay in the fact that one account holder, Paolo Sattanino was paid from another account in the same bank $10,000 every day for 12 days. The transfers have been interpreted to mean the amount was kept low to escape having to account to the Central Bank on the source of the money. CBK requires that any foreign currency transfers of more than 10,000 dollars must be accompanied by an explanation of the source.

“Failure to prosecute those responsible means the government is rewarding crime and this affects our sovereign risk rating,” said constitutional lawyer Wachira Maina. The report also shows how two big retail chains used their accounts at Charterhouse Bank to launder money and evade taxes. It gives the example of a retail chain that was opened in 2001 and operated an account with a balance of Sh4.3 billion, but was not disclosed until 2003 in a suspected tax evasion scheme.

The supermarket’s estimated under declared sales to the tax man totalled Sh911 million, according to an audit report by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Another retail chain had several transactions involving huge amounts of money that were not supported by any documents. The management told auditors that some of the documents were accidentally burnt.

The report faults the government for failure to prosecute people involved in what appears to have been a financial institution operating on the fringes of the law. CBK placed Charterhouse Bank under statutory management on June 23, 2006 after a run on the bank caused by an enquiry in Parliament.

The Parliamentary Committee on Finance, Planning and Trade, government and even Kenya Anti Corruption Commission (Kacc) officials have in the past given the bank a clean bill of health.

Kenya Revenue Authority Commissioner General Michael Waweru told the committee that the KRA had no objection to Charterhouse reopening, as did CBK Governor Njuguna Ndung’u and Kacc Deputy Director John Mutonyi.

Dr Mutonyi told the parliamentary committee that money laundering was not a crime by the time the transactions took place at Charterhouse Bank and therefore the perpetrators could not be prosecuted. But Mr Maina said the argument does not make sense because those involved should have been charged with other crimes like tax evasion.

“Charthouse’s is a classic example of failure of our governance system that gives an incentive to criminals with similar motives,” said Gladwell Otieno of Africa Centre for Open Governance.

Money laundering is now a crime under the Proceeds of Crime and Anti-Money Laundering Act that became active in June 2010 although some sections of it like the Financial Reporting Centre (FRC) that co-ordinates intelligence on suspicious transactions are yet to be operationalised.
By STEVE MBOGO (email the author)

Posted Monday, July 4 2011 at 00:00

smbogo@ke.nationmedia.com
More than a dozen related companies and businessmen used Charterhouse Bank as a conduit for money laundering, a new report by a corruption watchdog says, even as lawyers warned that failure to prosecute the perpetrators could undermine Kenya’s sovereign rating.

More than a dozen related companies and businessmen used Charterhouse Bank as a conduit for money laundering, a new report by a corruption watchdog says, even as lawyers warned that failure to prosecute the perpetrators could undermine Kenya’s sovereign rating.

The report, which pieces together the complex network that the bank’s clients used to clean money, says Charterhouse deliberately let its customers open accounts without critical details like names, addresses or signatures – flouting the Know Your Customer regulations under which all commercial banks operate.

But the report by the Africa Centre for Open Governance also hits out at the Central Bank of Kenya, the financial services sector regulator, for failing to detect Charterhouse’s dubious operations for more than seven years.

The report, which has borrowed heavily from another one that forensic auditors prepared six years ago for the Central Bank, says incredibly huge sums of money were being deposited into some accounts in cash – enough to have caught the attention of any regulator, but the CBK turned a blind eye to it.

It gives the example of an account belonging to a businessman based in Butere, Western Kenya, that had a debit of Sh554 million and credit of Sh566 million over a 10 month period in 2006, clearly indicating that it was merely acting as a conduit for the money.

Even more telling is the fact that the money was being deposited in cash and there was no evidence of a business in Butere that could generate that kind of money in such a short period. The account had no details of what kind of business the holder dealt in.Further evidence that the bank was being used for illegal financial transactions lay in the fact that one account holder, Paolo Sattanino was paid from another account in the same bank $10,000 every day for 12 days. The transfers have been interpreted to mean the amount was kept low to escape having to account to the Central Bank on the source of the money. CBK requires that any foreign currency transfers of more than 10,000 dollars must be accompanied by an explanation of the source.

“Failure to prosecute those responsible means the government is rewarding crime and this affects our sovereign risk rating,” said constitutional lawyer Wachira Maina. The report also shows how two big retail chains used their accounts at Charterhouse Bank to launder money and evade taxes. It gives the example of a retail chain that was opened in 2001 and operated an account with a balance of Sh4.3 billion, but was not disclosed until 2003 in a suspected tax evasion scheme.

The supermarket’s estimated under declared sales to the tax man totalled Sh911 million, according to an audit report by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Another retail chain had several transactions involving huge amounts of money that were not supported by any documents. The management told auditors that some of the documents were accidentally burnt.

The report faults the government for failure to prosecute people involved in what appears to have been a financial institution operating on the fringes of the law. CBK placed Charterhouse Bank under statutory management on June 23, 2006 after a run on the bank caused by an enquiry in Parliament.

The Parliamentary Committee on Finance, Planning and Trade, government and even Kenya Anti Corruption Commission (Kacc) officials have in the past given the bank a clean bill of health.

Kenya Revenue Authority Commissioner General Michael Waweru told the committee that the KRA had no objection to Charterhouse reopening, as did CBK Governor Njuguna Ndung’u and Kacc Deputy Director John Mutonyi.

Dr Mutonyi told the parliamentary committee that money laundering was not a crime by the time the transactions took place at Charterhouse Bank and therefore the perpetrators could not be prosecuted. But Mr Maina said the argument does not make sense because those involved should have been charged with other crimes like tax evasion.

“Charthouse’s is a classic example of failure of our governance system that gives an incentive to criminals with similar motives,” said Gladwell Otieno of Africa Centre for Open Governance.

Money laundering is now a crime under the Proceeds of Crime and Anti-Money Laundering Act that became active in June 2010 although some sections of it like the Financial Reporting Centre (FRC) that co-ordinates intelligence on suspicious transactions are yet to be operationalised

Link to article on riskbusiness.com website
More than a dozen related companies and businessmen used Charterhouse Bank as a conduit for money laundering, a new report by a corruption watchdog says, even as lawyers warned that failure to prosecute the perpetrators could undermine Kenya’s sovereign rating.

AN NGO has criticised the government for failing to take action against Charterhouse Bank, despite having evidence of malpractices African Centre for Open Governance boss Gladwell Otieno said this is an example of systemic failures of institutions in the country.

Otieno wondered why the CID, KACC, the Attorney General’s office, Treasury and KRA remain powerless although there is sufficient and strong evidence that Charterhouse violated the Banking Act and its clients were involved in highly suspicious activities. “These issues are slipping down the agenda and it is becoming characteristic of impunity in Kenya. If we don’t act now, Kenya will turn into a criminal haven,” Otieno said.

Three teams including Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Central Bank of Kenya’s due diligence team raised serious questions about operations at Charterhouse bank with indications that its clients were involved in both tax evasion and money laundering.

Crimes suspected to have been committed by Charterhouse bank by the three teams were identified as breach of the know your customer regulations, structuring or splitting deposits and payments, unusual large cash transactions and webs of related companies’ accounts.

She warned that Kenya’s failure to strengthen anti-money laundering laws will result in loss of investor confidence and risk becoming a transit point and haven for serious international crimes.

The Africog executive director said there was evidence that Charterhouse bank repeatedly flouted the Banking Act and prudential guidelines in complete disregard of CBK regulations and its licence should have been revoked.

According to the report, 839 accounts of the 1,004 accounts at Charterhouse bank had violated CBK’s guidelines because they missed basic customers details such as name, addresses, ID photo or signature cards. She said KRA owes the country an explanation about its investigations and action should be taken against tax evaders.

BY DOMINIC WABALA
AN NGO has criticised the government for failing to take action against Charterhouse Bank, despite having evidence of malpractices African Centre for Open Governance boss Gladwell Otieno said this is an example of systemic failures of institutions in the country.

The proprietor of Triton Petroleum Ltd Yagnesh Devani was arrested in London on Thursday.

“I can confirm that he was arrested earlier today and he has been remanded in custody,” the British High Commission in Kenya spokesperson, Mr John Bradshaw, said in Nairobi.

However, Mr Bradshaw said it was not yet known when the suspect would be extradited to face fraud charges.

“The court is yet to set the date for extradition hearing before he is brought back,” he said.

It is during that hearing that the formal request for extradition and all the supporting documents shall be put forward.

On Monday, a British minister assured the government that his country would hunt down Devani — the man behind the Sh7.6 billion Triton oil scandal — and extradite him to face justice in Kenya.

Earlier, the British minister asked the government to extradite Nambale MP Chris Okemo and former Kenya Power and Lighting Company boss Samuel Gichuru to the UK to face money-laundering charges.

Attorney General Amos Wako has submitted arrest warrants against Mr Okemo and Mr Gichuru to Chief Public Prosecutor Keriako Tobiko to start the extradition process.

Criminal procedure code

Mr Devani fled the country in 2009 following the Triton Oil scandal. The government sought the help of Interpol to track him down.

He had been charged in absentia for stealing Sh955,334,094 from Kenya Commercial Bank, and 26,216.60 tonnes of oil at the Kipevu storage facility in Mombasa valued at Sh1,532,272,140.

The criminal case against him was later withdrawn under Section 87 of the Criminal Procedure Code. This means the same charges can be brought against him again.

The scandal can be traced to 2008 when Triton Oil Company was allowed by Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) to collect oil valued at Sh7.6 billion and sell it without permission of the financiers.

In the wake of the fuel shortage witnessed in 2008 and following complaints by oil marketers and financiers, KPC ordered an internal audit of oil stocks in its systems.

The audit revealed that stocks amounting to 126.4 million litres were irregularly released to Triton Petroleum Limited between November 2007 and November 2008.

Triton was not entitled to the stocks, nor did financiers authorise the release as required under contractual arrangements.

A July 2009 report by the African Centre for Open Governance (Africog) warned Mr Devani enjoyed good political connections.

“Triton’s executive chairman and managing director, Mr Yagnesh Mohanlal Devani has been described as a shrewd 43 year-old businessman who lives large and hobnobs with the high and mighty. A 2006 ceremony to open Triton’s LPG depot was attended by political bigwigs, including then Vice-President Moody Awori, several cabinet ministers, Hon. Raila Odinga, Hon. Uhuru Kenyatta, and several permanent secretaries,” Africog observed.

Mr Devani’s ties with the powers that be started during the Moi regime when Triton clinched the lucrative contract to supply petroleum products to the Kenya Power and Lighting Company several times.

Triton was also among the firms named in Parliament over allegations of money laundering. The firm is alleged to have received suspicious loans from Charterhouse Bank.

Mr Devani fled the country in 2009 and a warrant of his arrest issued.

Mr Devani was accused of stealing Sh2.7 billion from KCB.

The bank has also sued Triton for Sh2 billion for oil imports secured by the bank through debentures.

Several of his senior managers and workers including Mr Peter Kimathi, Mr William Mundia and Mr Sunil Somai were charged with criminal offences relating to the Sh7.6 billion oil scandal.

The directors, however, argued before court that they could not take plea on behalf of the company, and on Thursday a Nairobi court ruled that the three would not be facing criminal charges.

By PATRICK MAYOYO pmayoyo@ke.nationmedia.com and WALTER MENYA wmenya@ke.nationmedia.com

Link to Story in the Daily Nation

The proprietor of Triton Petroleum Ltd Yagnesh Devani was arrested in London on Thursday.

“I can confirm that he was arrested earlier today and he has been remanded in custody,” the British High Commission in Kenya spokesperson, Mr John Bradshaw, said in Nairobi.

However, Mr Bradshaw said it was not yet known when the suspect would be extradited to face fraud charges.

As the reality of yet another drought sets in, fears of a repeat of past cases of mismanagement loom. The post-election violence led to a significant reduction of the area under maize production. This was exacerbated by high prices of farm inputs including fertilisers and fuel and the 1.6 million bag deficit in the Strategic Grain Reserve.

All these factors combined to put the country in a precarious position in the event of famine.

Ironically, similar circumstances are with us today, circumstances that facilitated the infamous maize scam of 2008 that saw the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) sell maize to politically connected companies and individuals at a subsidised price.

The laudable intention then was to reduce the retail price of milled grain for consumers.

However, NCPB decided to sell the maize to middlemen, who in turn sold it to millers at exorbitant prices. This only served to deepen the food crisis as the price of maize flour soared.

The World Food Programme in 2010 predicted that the La Niña weather phenomenon would impact negatively on the October to December short rains, thereby resulting in declining food security levels for up to 1.6 million Kenyans.

The current drought in the arid districts of northern Kenya has again highlighted the government’s lack of disaster preparedness.

It knew that serious consequences would follow the poor rains of the October to December season, yet the authorities seem to have been caught off-guard. Poor planning and grain storage systems have seen famine intensify.

The stage appears set for a repeat of the 2008 maize scandal. A key aspect of the governance weaknesses that facilitated the maize scam was the mixed mandate of the NCPB, which allowed wide discretionary powers, especially those accorded to the minister.

Despite this, no lessons seem to have been learned and the recommendations made to avoid a repeat of the scandal have been ignored.

The government retains extensive discretionary powers over the NCPB and management of the grains sector. This has seen the NCPB’s management structures and operations exposed to political influence, particularly when it is charged with administering subsidised schemes or distributing relief food.

Although KACC recommended disciplinary action against the public officials deemed to have been negligent in their duties, no criminal or administrative proceedings were brought against them.

The permanent secretaries in the relevant ministries were suspended, but were later reinstated. Even the then minister for Agriculture survived a censure motion in Parliament.

Several key politicians and businessmen were investigated in connection with the scandal but no action was taken.

In these circumstances, the importance of improved governance cannot be overstated. It would be foolhardy to expect different results, given that the current situation seems to be a replica of what preceded the 2008 fiasco.

Operations at the National Cereals and Produce Board remain the same, just waiting to provide a loophole to unscrupulous middlemen to make astronomical profits by buying and hoarding maize, only to release it at the height of famine.

The NCPB mandate allows it to engage in commercial activities like any private player in the industry and at the same time carry out certain social responsibilities on behalf of the government.

These include procuring supplies for and managing the Strategic Grain Reserve and emergency relief aid stock.

This mixing of functions makes it difficult to distinguish between SGR, commercial, and famine relief stocks and opens the way for improper dealings.

Before the government implements any new scheme to deal with the upcoming famine or any form of subsidy, the NCPB governance structure should be amended to make it more accountable and transparent to public scrutiny.

Its mandate should also be reformed and its public social duties separated from its commercial functions. Until comprehensive reforms are done, the NCPB will remain prone to manipulation by commercial and political interests.

Mr Wanguhu is a programme officer at the Africa Centre for Open Governance. The opinions contained in this article do not necessarily reflect those of the organisation.

Link to the Article in the Daily Nation
As the reality of yet another drought sets in, fears of a repeat of past cases of mismanagement loom. The post-election violence led to a significant reduction of the area under maize production. This was exacerbated by high prices of farm inputs including fertilisers and fuel and the 1.6 million bag deficit in the Strategic Grain Reserve.

September 1, 2009, Nairobi: Parliament has been urged to deny the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission funds to run its affairs. The call was made by anti-corruption lobby groups as outrage over Justice Aaron Ringera’s reappointment intensified.

Terming the president’s decision to re-appoint Mr Ringera and his deputies, Ms Fatuma Sichale and Smokin Wanjala as a “reward to ineptitude and complicity with corruption,” Transparency International country director Job Ogonda and Ms Gladwell Otieno from the African Centre for Open Governance demanded that Parliament and the KACC advisory board act fast to reverse the move.

They argued that by reappointing Ringera and his team, President Kibaki had flouted the law that vests powers to identify and recommend KACC directors for appointment in the commission’s Advisory Board and Parliament. The law only allows the President to formally appoint persons recommended and approved by the KACC advisory board and Parliament respectively.

“The Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act, 2003, clearly stipulates a chain of events leading to the appointment of the director. This gives to the Advisory Board of the Commission and not to the President, the power to recommend the director. Thereafter the nominee must be approved by parliament. Only then should the President appoint the director,” the lobbyists said.

They demanded that Parliament shoots down the vote relating to the commission’s finances if the president fails to reverse his decision which it termed “mischievous”.

Under the new standing orders adopted by the House last December, Parliament can reject the votes for various ministries, government departments and agencies or even government officials whose performance it deems as unsatisfactory.

Such a move would financially cripple the affected government agency or official. Speaking at a press conference, lawyer Harun Ndubi urged Parliament to exploit its powers to deny KACC funds. “Parliament is capable of refusing to give this commission funds because it is moribund,’ said Mr Ndubi.

The lobbyists accused the president of acting with impunity by reappointing Ringera and his team against the law, noting that the move greatly undermined the independence of the commission.
“By unilaterally purporting to reappoint Ringera, Mwai Kibaki has attempted to deal the independence of the Commission and its advisory board the decisive death-blow,” said Ms Otieno.
“Aaron Ringera, who has in any case never attempted to demonstrate any independence from the Executive will now be even more clearly beholden to the president who has re-appointed him to his, slightly less lucrative, but nonetheless apparently still desirable post,” she went on.

The lobbyists recalled that the President had previously treated the KACC advisory board with contempt
and challenge it to redeem itself by rejecting Mr Ringera’s re-appointment.

They cited the President’s move to exclude the name of former Mandera Central MP Billow Kerrow when he announced the new members of the board in June this year.

Download Press Clipping Here
September 1, 2009, Nairobi: Parliament has been urged to deny the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission funds to run its affairs. The call was made by anti-corruption lobby groups as outrage over Justice Aaron Ringera’s reappointment intensified.

The success or failure of the nation’s land reform process will hinge on the outcome of the current drive to evict people who have settled in the Mau, according to a new report.

It further says failure to carry through with the Mau evictions will put the entire national reconciliation process in danger of failure because of the centrality of land as one of the perceived causes of the post-election violence.

New report

The report commissioned by the African Centre for Open Governance (Africog) says implementation of the evictions in the Mau, which was one of the proposals made by the Commission of Inquiry into Illegal Allocation of Public Land (popularly known as the Ndung’u Commission), will prove whether there is political will to carry through with the reform agenda.

The Mau Forest controversy has dominated headlines in the past week with Cabinet ministers divided on how to carry out evictions from one of the region’s most important water catchment areas.

But the new report, Mission impossible?: Implementing the Ndung’u Report, warns that politicising the process will endanger the implementation of the far-reaching changes proposed by the Ndung’u Commission.

The commission’s findings, published in 2004, inform a large part of the draft national land policy recently approved by the Cabinet and also tally with the findings of the Mau Forest task force appointed by Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

Land and discontent over its distribution and ownership was a driving factor of the post-2007 election violence, the Africog report reads in part.

Not implementing the Ndung’u recommendations means that misuse of public land and the resultant damage – economic, environmental and socio-political – continues unchecked. This could fuel greater violence in 2012.

Among the sections of the Ndung’u Report civil society organisations want implemented fast are those dealing with allocation of forestlands, game reserves, wetlands and other protected areas.

Wide abuse

The Ndung’u Commission found that there had been wide abuse of presidential discretion in apportioning land particularly in protected areas. It called for the immediate cancellation of all these allocations.

However, it also recommended that some form of compensation be given to third parties who bought land from people who had abused their positions in government to gain titles to protected areas, a proposal also backed by the PM’s task force on land.

Speaking at the launch of the Africog report, former chairman of the Institution of Surveyors of Kenya Ibrahim Mwathane said full implementation of the national land policy was essential to safeguarding Kenya’s future.

By SUNDAY NATION Team

The success or failure of the nation’s land reform process will hinge on the outcome of the current drive to evict people who have settled in the Mau, according to a new report.

It further says failure to carry through with the Mau evictions will put the entire national reconciliation process in danger of failure because of the centrality of land as one of the perceived causes of the post-election violence.

Reports of a generous send-off package for the former commissioners of the defunct Electoral Commission of Kenya are the latest example of a lack of real recognition by government of the precarious situation in which Kenya finds itself.

As holders of high constitutional office, the remuneration of the commissioners cannot be varied to the disadvantage of the holder of the office.

However, it is unlikely that their original terms of service would have contemplated the unprecedented basis on which these payments are being negotiated, and at a time when they are no longer in office.

It is regrettable that investigating and establishing the culpability, or lack of it, of the commissioners in relation to alleged electoral fraud, is not being prioritised in the same way as the payments.

This is despite the Attorney-General’s directive to the Commissioner of Police last November to “carry out comprehensively and expeditiously criminal investigations into suspected offences alleged to have been committed by the chairman, the vice-chairman, commissioners and specified staff of the Electoral Commission of Kenya (…)” in response to a complaint by Kenyans for Peace with Truth and Justice (KPTJ).

THE CONCLUSION BY THE KRIEGLER Commission (IREC) last September can safely be qualified as cursory. However, IREC also made valuable recommendations on radical reforms and the creation of a new electoral management body “with a new name, image and ethos committed to administrative excellence in the service of electoral integrity…”.

But instead of a fresh start capable of renewing Kenyans’ deeply damaged confidence in elections as a cornerstone of democracy, what we have seen is the unrepentant arrogance of former commissioners and the shambolic process of establishing an Interim Independent Electoral Commission.

It is difficult to see how the granting of generous financial rewards to commissioners can contribute to fostering a culture of excellence and accountability in a future electoral management body.

On the contrary, the message going out is that no matter how dismal, negligent or even criminal your performance may be, you will not only never be held to account for it, you will be amply rewarded.

As reported in the Africa Centre for Open Governance’s new publication, Free for All? the reports of the Controller and Auditor-General show the numerous economic and political governance challenges that plagued the ECK.

Chief among these is the political patronage that led to a pervasive culture of impunity in spending both at the Nairobi headquarters and at district offices.

Between 1991/92 and 2006/07, the ECK was entrusted with Sh15.8 billion with which to undertake various electoral activities. During that period, Kenya held three general elections at regular five-year intervals, the 2005 referendum, and a number of by-elections.

In various reports, the auditor took issue with how the ECK spent more than Sh1.93 billion – roughly 12 per cent of its disbursement for the period.

The most blatant improprieties at the ECK during this period were perpetrated by the commissioners themselves. Over a span of seven years from 1991, commissioners were direct beneficiaries of questionable expenditure amounting to over Sh148 million through irregularly-paid sitting and subsistence allowances, and wasteful hire of cars.

So frivolous was the management of funds that it was common practice for ECK commissioners to pay themselves sitting allowances while also receiving subsistence allowances for every day of the year including Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, and in some instances, when they were out of the country.

A commissioner who received an unauthorised Sh926,600 ex-gratia refund of medical and travel expenses for treatment at a Nairobi hospital and abroad, also received full sitting and subsistence allowances while incapacitated.

The ECK provided no explanation as to why subsistence allowances – paid to enable an officer to “subsist” away from his or her duty station – were paid together with sitting allowances.

WHEN PUT TO TASK BY THE PARLIA-mentary Accounts Committee regarding these irregularities, the accounting officer’s explanation was that it is the ECK’s prerogative to decide whether or not to maintain records of its meetings.

The officer explained that since ECK meetings had no quorum, a sitting can be by one or two members, or the whole commission; which justifies payment of sitting allowances for 365 days. Between 1997 and 2003, the auditor estimated that Sh29.4 million was probably lost.

The radical reforms recommended in the Kriegler Report highlight the need for overall administrative reforms. For a new electoral body to effectively execute its mandate, the requisite administrative and governance structures must be in place to minimise opportunities for corruption and abuse of power.

By GLADWELL OTIENO

Ms Otieno is the executive director, Africa Centre for Open Governance (AfriCOG).
Reports of a generous send-off package for the former commissioners of the defunct Electoral Commission of Kenya are the latest example of a lack of real recognition by government of the precarious situation in which Kenya finds itself.

As the government prepares to hand severance pay to members of the defunct Electoral Commission of Kenya, a new report says its bosses lived like kings as they managed some of the most costly elections in the world.

The report, based on an analysis of government audit reports, says that the ECK grossly mismanaged funds it was allocated.

The Controller and Auditor-General took issue with how ECK spent Sh1.93 billion of the Sh15.8 billion it was given between 1991 and 2007. This amount would have provided Kenyans with 193 fully equipped dispensaries or 64 fully equipped health centres.

The analysis by the Africa Centre for Open Governance (Africog) indicates that ECK commissioners were irregularly paid Sh219 million, which could have paid for and equipped 22 dispensaries or seven health centres.

The report shows that the commissioners were, for instance, paid thousands of shillings every month in sitting allowances even when they did not attend meetings.

The reports from the offices of the Controller and Auditor-General say the former ECK chairman and his deputy received monthly sitting allowances of Sh63,00 and Sh42,000 respectively.

A senior ECK official, who appeared before the Parliamentary Accounts Committee in 1996, said it was the commission’s prerogative to decide whether to maintain records of its own meetings.

“The officer explained that since ECK meetings had no quorum, a sitting can be by one member, two members or the whole commission; which justifies the payment of sitting allowances for the 365 days of the year,” read the report.

Ex-gratia refund

The Africog analysis adds that a commissioner who received Sh926,600 ex-gratia refund of medical and travel expenses for treatment at a Nairobi hospital and abroad also received full sitting and subsistence allowance for the same period.

The auditors found numerous cases where allowances were paid when the authenticity of the claims could not be confirmed.

By 1996, the commissioners had received Sh29.7 million in undeserved sitting and subsistence allowances while irregular payments of accommodation expenses totalled Sh33.79 million from 1993 to 1997.

The Africog report faults the procurement of spares, fuel and stores. It notes that orders for 334 polling booths worth Sh2.04 million were placed in January 1998, while elections had taken place in December 1997. ECK was headed by Zaccheus Chesoni and Samuel Kivuitu during the period under review.

Not only did commissioners get undeserved allowances but they were also driven in top-of-the-range vehicles. In the 1996/97 financial year, ECK purchased 12 four-wheel-drive Land Rover Discoveries at Sh29.7 million. This was half of what the commission was using for “unnecessary hire of cars for the commissioners”.

“At the average rate of Sh2.5 million per vehicle, the amounts spent on hiring luxury vehicles during the 1996/97 financial year could have bought another 13 such vehicles,” reads the Africog analysis.

The Kriegler team, which examined the 2007 elections and recommended that ECK be wound up, questioned the commission’s financial efficiency in comparison to the cost of running elections in the rest of the world.

The team reported that elections cost $1-3 (Sh80-240) per elector in the United States and most European countries. In most African countries, the cost ranges between Sh60 and Sh250. According to the Kriegler report, the cost of the 2007 election in Kenya was $13.74 (Sh1,100) per voter.

In November 2008, Sunday Nation reported that ECK paid Sh110 million for T-shirts that were never used during the 2007 election. The Public Procurement Oversight Authority also queried the decision of ECK to approve single sourcing for some Sh3.5 million in key services.

Tax-free pay

The 21 ECK commissioners were among the best paid civil servants in Kenya, each earning about Sh400,000 in salary and allowances, while Mr Kivuitu earned Sh513,000 in salary and allowances. The pay was tax-free.

The commissioners were entitled to a security officer, a driver, a cook and a house allowance of up to Sh50,000. In February, the Cabinet approved a Sh68,701,260 sendoff package for former commissioners.

As Kenya gears up for electoral reforms, Africog advises that voter registration be linked to other population databases such as that used for issuing national identity cards.

“Measures must be taken to ensure that members of the Parliamentary (sic) Accounts Committee and Public Investments Committee are beyond reproach by amending standing orders to bar anyone with an unresolved public audit query from sitting on the committees,” reads the report.

By OLIVER MATHENGE
As the government prepares to hand severance pay to members of the defunct Electoral Commission of Kenya, a new report says its bosses lived like kings as they managed some of the most costly elections in the world.