Politicians and businessmen who stole billions of dollars during the Daniel Arap Moi era in Kenya have effectively been given an amnesty after the national anti-corruption body was stripped of its power to investigate old cases.
The Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC) will no longer be able to investigate offenses committed before May 2003, when it was set up under a new law passed by parliament. Notorious scandals such as the Goldenberg and Anglo Leasing cases, which involved massive state-sponsored looting through bogus companies, can now only be pursued by the police. And the police consistently ranks as the most corrupt organization in Kenya.
The move comes two weeks after a leaked report by the international risk consultancy Kroll alleged that two of Moi's sons had accumulated wealth of nearly US$2 billion during their father's reign. Much of it was stashed in foreign countries.
Civil society organizations yesterday described the new law as "the formal end of the war on graft", while Aaron Ringera, the head of the KACC, called it "one of the darkest moments in the fight against corruption"
"This makes a mockery of the judicial system," Ringera said. "All our long investigations must now be stopped."
The KACC was established soon after President Mwai Kibaki took power in late 2002. With an annual budget of more than US$14 million, it was given the task of fulfilling Kibaki's pledge of ending high-level corruption and reclaiming stolen loot. It commissioned Kroll to trace the missing money, and collected evidence on the Goldenberg case, which involved a gold and diamond export scam, as well as the large-scale theft of public land by officials.
But from 2005, when Kibaki's government was revealed to have continued the looting by awarding huge state contracts to bogus companies in the so-called Anglo Leasing scandal, it became clear that KACC faced an uphill struggle due to political interference and a lack of bite. Ringera's own commitment to tackle corruption was called into question. The Kroll report, delivered in April 2004 and containing details of bank accounts, companies and properties in the names of Moi's inner circle, was never acted upon.
Earlier this year three members of Kibaki's cabinet, who resigned after allegedly putting pressure on anti-corruption officials to drop their investigations, were reappointed to their jobs. Efforts by KACC to force ministers suspected of corruption to declare the source of their wealth were blocked. To date not a single member of parliament or prominent businessman has faced prosecution.
"All these guys who looted must be celebrating now," said Maina Kiai, chairman of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights. "This shows what a farce the whole war on corruption is."
Moi himself had attempted to push through an amnesty for corruption in 2001, but was defeated in parliament.
This time around members of parliament, including some under investigation by the KACC, not only effectively pardoned all economic crimes since independence, but also blocked an attempt by the anti-corruption body to acquire wider powers to speed up investigations.
The move is likely to anger the international community, which pours tens of millions of US dollars of aid into Kenya each year. Britain, the biggest bilateral donor, is likely to be particularly aggrieved.
Moi was recently appointed as the government's peace envoy to Sudan. In turn -- or in return, as some say -- he came out in support of Kibaki's re-election bid.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
IN PURSUIT: Israel’s defense minister said the revenge attacks by Israeli settlers would make it difficult for security forces to find those responsible for the 14-year-old’s death Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday condemned the “heinous murder” of an Israeli teenager in the occupied West Bank as attacks on Palestinian villages intensified following news of his death. After Benjamin Achimeir, 14, was reported missing near Ramallah on Friday, hundreds of Jewish settlers backed by Israeli forces raided nearby Palestinian villages, torching vehicles and homes, leaving at least one villager dead and dozens wounded. The attacks escalated in several villages on Saturday after Achimeir’s body was found near the Malachi Hashalom outpost. Agence France-Presse correspondents saw smoke rising from burned houses and fields. Mayor Amin Abu Alyah, of the