List of Shame a big test for ruling coalition

President Uhuru Kenyatta took a calculated gamble when he presented Parliament with the ‘List of Shame’ put together by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission; together with the demand that Cabinet Secretaries and officials being investigated step aside.

If initial reaction is anything to go by, the President came out a big winner for finally going beyond rhetoric to fight the corruption monster. Release of the list on Tuesday with details of the staggering amounts being lost has shocked the public and reinforced the need for strong and decisive measures.

Strong public sentiments in favour of the President’s action has served to drown out voices of those in the list crying out as well as the discordant notes being struck by opposition leader Raila Odinga.

The public wants firm action against corruption and will not pay heed to those complaining about the process employed in compiling or releasing the dossier; or the legal niceties being pointed out.

However, the immediate political gains from what could be a masterstroke from a government recently under sustained pressure for its soft stand on the return of untrammeled corruption might not last unless the manoeuvre is followed by arrests, convictions and seizure of illicit wealth.

DISJOINTED

That might turn out to be the hard part, given the sorry record of the EACC, the DPP, police and other agencies in investigating and successfully prosecuting mega corruption cases. If nothing concrete is achieved swiftly, there is risk that a public already given so much hope would think the whole show was a ploy designed to temporarily get the corruption monkey off a beleaguered President’s back. 

What might matter in the immediate aftermath is that the President has reaped political capital in public support for his move that has firmly seized the initiative from a disjointed opposition on the war.

However, President Kenyatta also has to deal with rumblings from DP William Ruto’s side. Early analysis after the State of the Nation address noted that Mr Ruto’s URP wing seemed to have been hit hard as Cabinet Secretaries and key officials on the list started tumbling.

CARRY OWN CROSS

These considerations were not lost on the coalition principals. Indeed, Mr Ruto was quick to dismiss speculation that the war on corruption might lead to a fallout, indicating that he was in the know all along and fully supported the order for officials mentioned to step aside.

Addressing a meeting at Shanzu Teachers Training College last weekend, Mr Ruto stressed that those named must bear their own crosses. Of the five Cabinet Secretaries who have steped aside, Mr Davis Chirchir (Energy), Mr Felix Koskei (Agriculture) and Mr Kazungu Kambi (Labour) are aligned to Mr Ruto.

Also affected was a key official at the heart of the DP’s office, his Chief of Staff, Marianne Kittany. Another Ruto ally shown the door was his former Youth for Kanu ’92 colleague Patrick Osero, who is the chairman of the Agricultural Finance Corporation.

Mr Osero was recently in the news when he said he was the owner of Weston Hotel, an establishment the public associates with Mr Ruto and which many believed was linked to the Lang’ata Road School land-grab saga.

Even before the list was unveiled in Parliament, loud murmurs had started building up in Mr Ruto’s Rift Valley political bastion suggesting unease that his URP wing was being targeted by TNA.

It is thus clear that whatever political advantage President Kenyatta gained at a time Cord leader Raila Odinga was putting him under pressure on runway corruption had to be tempered by the threat of implosion within Jubilee.

On Sunday, State House spokesman Manoah Esipisu released a statement containing the President’s response to Mr Odinga’s dismissal of the fight against corruption. He also upbraided elected politicians on the list, mostly County bosses led by Bomet Governor Isaac Ruto, who were insisting that they would not quit because the President had no power over them. The statement mentioned the President and DP together several times, the intention being to demonstrate that the principals were united in launching the anti-corruption war.

The statement also went to some length to dismiss demands by opposition leaders and affected governors that Mr Ruto should also be required to step aside as deputy president on grounds that he was facing crimes against humanity charges.

It employed a tortuous argument in trying to draw distinctions between the type of charges facing Mr Ruto and the accusations on which Cabinet Secretaries and public officers were being asked to quit.

But it addressed a germane issue because since similar charges against President Kenyatta were thrown out at ICC, Mr Ruto’s supporters have become restive.

If it was The Hague that bound the Jubilee pair together, the assumption seemed that one of the accused being set free would loosen the bond.

Mr Ruto’s Rift Valley support base has also been suspicious of plans to disband URP and TNA so that the coalition partners approach the next elections under a single Jubilee Alliance Party banner.

Though JAP is actually grounded on the imperative to smooth the way for Mr Ruto’s succession to State House — by creating a vehicle through which he can get the critical Mt Kenya vote — once President Kenyatta serves out a presumed term; there are fears in his constellation that it will also deprive him of a political vehicle under his direct control.

GIDEON MOI FACTOR

Unease in the Rift Valley is exemplified by the sudden resurgence of Baringo Senator Gideon Moi who is moving to revive Kanu.

Mr Moi’s seems to be calculating that he might have a void to fill if Mr Ruto is jailed or if other circumstances arise that might prompt President Kenyatta to seek out a new ally in the populous province. This is despite the fact there is no evidence of imminent fallout between the Jubilee leaders.

There can be no doubt that President Kenyatta and Mr Ruto still work very together and were in full accord on publication of the list.

One solace for Mr Ruto is that the purge also hit at least two of the powerful Kibaki-era remnants his camp has always been uncomfortable with: Secretary to the Cabinet Francis Kimemia and Defense Principal Secretary Mutea Iringo.

Another notable casualty includes Lands Cabinet Secretary Charity Ngilu, who came from Cord into the Jubilee Coalition under her own terms – holding on to what remained of her Narc party.

Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto have signaled that come the next polls, there will only be the JAP ticket in their team and no room for the myriad regional or one-man parties that also latch on to the coalition.