Four more Raila ministers targeted

• POLITICAL BATTLE: The fight against corruption is threatening to derail the constitution review as key parties in the coalition engage in hard tackling as they depict each other’s members as corrupt

Political parties are turning the war against corruption into a bargaining chip in the power games ahead of the 2012 General Election.

Both sides have set up secretariats that are actively mining for information on their rivals that would cast them as a corrupt, a development that could further divide the coalition and which is seen as posing a grave threat to the reform process.

Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi, a deputy ODM leader, has been in the news in the past week after the Kenya Anti Corruption Commission (KACC) linked him to the irregular purchase of land for a city council cemetery.

The Sunday Nation has learnt the ODM is plotting to fight back against their PNU colleagues with the integrity of KACC expected to be the first battleground.

A question asked in Parliament by Rarieda MP Nicholas Gumbo, an ally of Prime Minister Raila Odinga, was the first salvo in this campaign, according to informed sources. The MP sought to know the circumstances under which KACC acquired land in Karen amid suspicion that the process might have been irregular.

In recent weeks, PNU appears to have had the upper hand in the leaking game designed to paint their rivals as corrupt.

The Sunday Nation has learnt that teams of “researchers” have fanned out into a number of ODM ministries in hopes they will unearth evidence of corruption.

Among the targets are the ministries of Water headed by Charity Ngilu, Otieno Kajwang’s Immigration, Anyang Nyong’o (Medical Services), James Orengo (Lands) and Henry Kosgey (Industrialisation).

It is also understood that an international investigation has been launched to to identify the directors of a firm that was awarded a tender to import subsidised maize, which led to the suspension of the PM’s aide, Caroli Omondi.

These fights are seen as the biggest threat to the successful implementation of key reforms that were designed to avoid a return to violence.

Political scientist Frank Matanga says the calculations of players on both sides of the coalition revolve around plotting for the next General Election, with issues such as corruption and the reform process being used to advance their strategic goals.

But the constitution review could suffer in the confusion, according to insiders in government. This week, ODM MPs scuttled a planned retreat aimed at building consensus on the review, a development that could harden positions on both sides.

It is a sign of the depth of the divisions in government that the Cabinet has not met for four straight weeks. Western diplomatic sources told the Sunday Nation there are serious concerns that the apparent stalemate may derail the reform process.

They said the consequences of the collapse of the review process or the fall of the coalition would be international isolation for the nation.

Insiders say relations in government have been particularly frosty since the PM suspended ministers William Ruto and Prof Sam Ongeri over suspected involvement in corruption, a decision that was reversed by President Kibaki within hours.

“It seems the hardliners are back,” said an aide of the PM. He was referring to those in the President’s inner circle who have all along been either uneasy or outright opposed to the grand coalition arrangement and who appear buoyed by the rebellion Mr Odinga faces in ODM.

One factor complicating the intensifying friction in government is the fact that both PNU and ODM have fragmented into warring factions that have a regional character and competing agenda. This means the regional groupings are negotiating with each other to decide what position to take on corruption and the constitution.

Mr Mudavadi, the latest to be associated with a corruption scandal, is battling to clear his name over his alleged involvement in the Sh283 million cemetery deal. Mr Mudavadi has protested his innocence although investigations are ongoing.