President’s new power men lead corruption war

Shortly after President Uhuru Kenyatta was sworn in on November 28, last year, he called a few of his key advisors for a meeting at State House, Nairobi.
It was a candid talk, according to my sources, and the discussions centred on those who would take a walk. Once upon a time, at the Embakasi airport, his father Jomo Kenyatta remarked in 1962 that he was “holding the British lion by the tail and will not release it” lest it devours everyone.
Uhuru is perhaps taking cue from that by taking the lion of corruption by the tail to save his legacy — and for a reason.

PROFITEERS
During the lengthy presidential campaigns, it had appeared that President Kenyatta’s government would be remembered for three things: Runaway corruption, inefficiency and backroom deals. All attempts to prosecute corruption cases had collapsed. The oligarchs and political elites who profited from the corrupt system were insulated from the consequences and a wave of impunity had crept into the government.
“The President appears lonely in the war on corruption,” one of President Kenyatta’s relatives told me during the campaigns. “He is more of a one-man guitar.”
One of President Kenyatta’s pet projects on the National Youth Service (NYS) had ended up in tatters and shame after profiteers lined up to squirrel away the billions of shillings that had been pumped into a project that was supposed to help the youth gain technical skills.

RACKETEERS
Although the scandal had broken in June 2015, no case had been concluded two years later — and the NYS I scandal, as it is now christened, had all but fizzled out.
During the campaigns, and incensed by a January 2017 accusation by Raila Odinga that he was the patron of corruption cartels and racketeers, President Kenyatta had promised his inner circle that once he was re-elected, he would spare no one.
That message was delivered by his confidante David Murathe, a former Gatanga MP, who — apart from the Kenyatta family members — was among a close group of friends who were always by the President’s side.
If Uhuru had read the biography of the 29th US President Warren G. Harding, he would have come across this famous quote: “I have no trouble with my enemies. I can take care of my enemies in a fight. But my friends, my goddamned friends, they're the ones who keep me walking the floor at nights! ”

CACOPHONY
In a country where there are few formidable think-tanks, it was Mr Murathe who spoke to KTN on the evening of June 20, 2017 to test the political waters on the implications of a second term Uhuru presidency.
“I am very sorry for people after Uhuru gets re-elected. His agenda will be his legacy issues which will be law, order, discipline and fight against corruption. If anybody thinks they can walk in the final term of Uhuru with anything that smells of corruption — I am sorry of him,” said Mr Murathe.
“I know this is somebody who will go even after his own friends…he will jail all of us and you can take that to the bank,” he told his interviewer.
While the significance of Mr Murathe’s prediction was lost in the cacophony of different interests screaming and scrambling for political space, it was clear that Uhuru’s second presidency would be totally different.

SIAMESE TWINS
During his first term, President Kenyatta had become a prisoner of a coalition that had been crafted to — more than anything else — save him and his deputy William Ruto from the International Criminal Court (ICC) where they had been charged with crimes against humanity.
By winning the presidency on a joint Jubilee Alliance ticket, both Kenyatta and Ruto had become like Siamese twins and their body language reflected a friendship hitherto unheralded between a president and his deputy. In the arrangement, the DP would succeed President Kenyatta and Uhuru said as much during the campaign trail — a promise that assured him of the bulk of Rift Valley votes.
In politics, and when there is a clear front-runner to inherit the seat, the value of a president quickly diminishes and elected leaders often see little sense in supporting him. It was the situation that faced President Kenyatta with his re-election — and the intelligence told him as much.

NOMINATIONS
Various sources tell me that President Kenyatta wanted to be his own man and that was the reason why the Deputy President was not on his side as he announced the Cabinet nominations. While allies of Mr Ruto complained, the DP told them off and said President Kenyatta should be left to do his job and to assemble a team that he hopes will help him … “to secure his legacy. We should allow the President to assemble the team for us.”
When the President assembled his legacy team, the DP was not in that meeting. Those who attended the meeting included the National Intelligence Service (NS) Director-General Philip Kameru, then acting Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i, Interior Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho, Solicitor General Kennedy Ogeto, State House Comptroller Kinuthia Mbugua, Attorney General Paul Kihara Kariuki, and then acting Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti. The others were a former presidential Unit commandant Edward Njoroge Mbugua and then acting Administration Police boss Noor Gabow.

EXECUTIVE
A few months earlier at State House, President Kenyatta had watched on television as a discussion on ethics and corruption turned to on corruption turned into a finger-pointing circus between Attorney-General Githu Muigai, Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko, and the Director of Criminal Investigations Ndegwa Muhoro, who all blamed the Judiciary — represented by Justice Kihara Kariuki. The meeting, one of the gatherings which brought stakeholders to discuss government agenda, saw various institutions blame each other on the collapse of the war on corruption. The executive was also taking the flak.
The President — albeit with some volcanic temper like his father — then walked in; and the hall went quiet as he took over from Jeff Koinange, who was the discussant. There were no niceties.
“I have been watching you,” he said. “As president, if there is one issue that has frustrated me, it is this issue. And I will say why. Because the pressure is on me. I have done my part, at great expense also, politically, by asking these guys to step aside…I have taken the actions that I can take, within the Constitution. When we sit down, and I challenge all the agencies here, they say we don’t have the resources, we don’t have this and that. I challenge them here to stand up and say we have been denied the resources we need.”

CHANGES
Sources say that President Kenyatta had made up his mind that he wanted to make changes in the AG’s office, the office of DPP, and the DCI if he was to safeguard his legacy.
A few days after the New Year, President Kenyatta held talks with DPP Tobiko and offered him a lifeline. He was to resign from an office where he enjoyed security of tenure to a Cabinet Secretary position — where he could be fired. On the day President Kenyatta announced a reshuffle in the police service, he also announced the resignation of Mr Tobiko and his nomination as CS for Environment. The DCI, Mr Muhoro, was also ousted and replaced with Mr Kinoti. He also appointed Njoroge Mbugua as a deputy inspector-general (DIG) Kenya Police while Noor Gabow took over as DIG, Administration Police.
Another curious entry was Rift Valley Regional Coordinator Wanyama Musiambo who had been promoted to deputy Head of Public Service.
While these changes were not easily seen as part of an onslaught on corruption, the bigger picture was to emerge soon. A month later, on February 13, Uhuru tweeted he had “received with regret” the resignation of Attorney-General Githu Muigai after six-and-a-half years of service.
“The problem with Githu is that he was scholarly and wanted to look nice,” a State House source tells me.
The forced and choreographed exits were managed by the inner circle, which had emerged to salvage a country that had been captured by cartels and sleaze networks.
Initially, sources say, Mr Musiambo was to replace the Inspector General, Joseph Boinett, but President Kenyatta had reservations since ‘the IG has a good heart and was not corrupt.”

SECURITY
“Boinett’s only problem was that he does not appear to command authority within the force. The President decided to strengthen his team by bringing in Mbugua, Gabow and Kinoti,” my source tells me.
Also, the President had confirmed Fred Matiang’i as the Interior Cabinet secretary. Quietly, he also removed the Government Chemist department from the Ministry of Health to the Minitry of Interior. It was to have a new mandate to look at things from a criminal perspective.
At the NIS, Maj Gen Kameru had managed to scuttle all the previous networks created during the tenure of his predecessors.
It was public knowledge that corruption cartels had penetrated the security networks and had managed to control almost all the apparatus of State.
As a result, the President would get disjointed intelligence.
An intelligence insider, Noordin Haji, had been encouraged to apply for the DPP position and his entry has changed the matrix on investigations. “I will not take a case that I know will fail in the courts because doing so, I will have failed the people of Kenya whom I swore to serve faithfully when I was taking office,” the DPP said recently.

COUNTERFEITS
Intelligence sources say that it was NIS that advised President Kenyatta to reach out to Raila Odinga if he was to win the war on corruption. The entry of Mr Odinga and the handshake outside Harambee House was only known by a few State agents. Even the DP was taken by surprise.
It appears that once the President brought in Mr Odinga, he does not appear to fear any implosion in his Jubilee house.
From the onset, the idea was that the new fight against corruption was to be led by the State agents and not the traditional bureaucracy.
“If you look at what is happening, it is the State that is leading the war and not the government,” a source familiar with what is happening told me.
That is how Mr Musiambo was tasked to lead the war on counterfeits with the backing of all the state agents.

CARTELS
When Aden Duale, the Leader of Majority in Parliament, and Industrialisation Cabinet Secretary Adan Mohammed appeared to cast doubts on the issue of sugar imports and the quality, there was hardly any comment from Dr Matiang’i as the government appeared to offer contradicting statements. A few hours later, the DCI arrested the Kenya Bureau of Standards managing director for interrogation.
That the team only reports back to President Kenyatta became known by a telling statement from Dr Matiang’i: “If you want to call someone to help or stop the seizure of this illegal goods call the President. Don’t call police or me in the operation. It doesn’t matter how far high up you are or which political side you are.”
How deep President Kenyatta intends to sink his teeth as he fights the cartels depends on whom you ask. But the President’s men have taken their new jobs with gusto. If there is a fight-back, it will be lethal and brutal.
[email protected]; @johnkamau1