US, UK move an indictment of local justice system

The naming of two Kenyans on the US list of most wanted drug barons in the world is the latest sign that the international community has no confidence in the ability and willingness of the Kenyan government to tackle impunity.

In a letter to Congress on June 1, President Barack Obama named Kilome MP Harun Mwau and businesswoman Naima Mohamed Nyakiniywa among the “kingpins” of the international narcotics trade.

They two were the only Africans on the list of seven key international drug traffickers wanted by the US.

Warrants of arrest

And a month ago, the UK, through a Jersey court, issued warrants of arrest for Nambale MP Chris Okemo and former managing director of Kenya Power & Lighting Company Samuel Gichuru for allegedly defrauding KPLC of nearly Sh1 billion. (READ: Kenya to give up Okemo, Gichuru)

And last year, in a move that has largely been supported by the international community, International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo named six prominent Kenyans suspected of being behind the 2008 post-election violence.

They are Eldoret North MP William Ruto, head of Public Service Francis Muthaura, Deputy Prime Minister and minister for Finance Uhuru Kenyatta, former police chief Hussein Ali, Tinderet MP Henry Kosgey and journalist Joshua Sang.

“I wonder what Kenyan authorities will say if these people are actually found guilty of offences which were allegedly committed in Kenya, yet the government has always maintained it has no evidence against them,” said Samuel Kimeu, the executive director of Transparency International.

Hassan Omar, a commissioner with the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, says these cases, though they may be an embarrassment to Kenya, if successfully prosecuted to conviction will be an indictment of the leadership of President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila.

“I presume they had the information about these people, and they have the resources to act. So why haven’t they? In these cases I believe they have put political considerations first and the rule of law second,” he said.

Unforgiving, too, in his criticism of the failure of the two principals to act is civil rights advocate Mwalimu Mati.

“For long, Kenya’s lords of impunity went about their business without fear of being brought to account. But these involvements prove that international processes will be brought to bear where local mechanisms have failed,” he said.

But in the wake of these unprecedented events, some Kenyans are questioning the international community’s keener interest in “saving Kenya from itself”, as the chairman of the NGOs council Ken Wafula put it.

“I think the West has seen Kenya teeter on the edge of destruction, and I think there is a feeling among the international community that Kenya is too strategic for them to allow to implode,” said Mwalimu Mati.

It is thought that the catastrophic events of 2008, when more than 1,300 people were killed and more than 600,000 others displaced following the disputed result of the 2007 presidential election brought home the reality that Kenya could easily join its neighbour Somalia in the ranks of failed states. 

Years of unfettered political and economic impunity had woven tribalism, cronyism and nepotism into Kenya’s social fabric.

Institutional failure was identified as the root cause of most of these problems which is why, emerging from the 2008 conflict, overhauling the constitution became an issue of national importance.

“Kenya’s stability is paramount in safeguarding Western interests. The events of 2008 probably proved to them that their interests may come tumbling down with the Kenyan State,” said Mwalimu Mati.

“And one sure way of ensuring stability is to bring to an end the endemic political, economic and social impunity that has long been woven into the DNA of Kenyan society.”

Brink of disintegration

And though most Kenyans might argue otherwise, the West seems convinced that Kenya is on the brink of disintegration.

A May 2011 report by the Satellite Sentinel Project, which uses satellites to monitor conflict areas with the aim of preventing genocide, concluded that there are high chances of a Rwanda-like genocide occurring in Kenya as early as next year.

The report, which used information gathered from movements of various groups in Kenya, cites widespread impunity and bad governance as some of the reasons Kenya could easily implode.

“Our situation might not be that dramatic, but it goes to show that the international community has a keen interest in what happens here,” Mr Wafula said.

Banks in United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland and even the United States were destinations of choice for the corrupt to hide ill-gotten loot.

But the freezing of Mr Mwau’s and Ms Nyakiniywa’s accounts in the US and the indictment of Mr Okemo and Mr Gichuru in the UK signals a dramatic shift in strategy by the international community.

Swiss ambassador to Kenya Jacques Pitteloud said his country, a favourite destination for Africa’s leaders to hide ill-gotten wealth, will do everything possible to return money laundered in his country. “But no one has requested our assistance,” he said.

Mr Omar said these latest events raise the possibility that the profiteers from other high-profile graft cases, such as Anglo-Leasing and Goldenberg, who are believed to have hidden their loot in foreign accounts, might face justice elsewhere in the world if not in their homeland.

“It is also a statement that no matter how long ago the crime may have been committed, the international justice system will not forget.

The world has truly become a village, and you will be punished anywhere for whatever crime you commit,” he added.