Go slow on ‘state capture’ inquiry

We could be set for tumultuous times if President William Ruto carries through on his plan to probe the administration of his predecessor Uhuru Kenyatta. 

The establishment of an inquiry into the so-called state capture was a key plank of the then-Deputy President’s election campaign but, once in office, he went slow on the rhetoric. However, it might have moved from a mere threat to actual resolve, given the wide-ranging number of misdeeds to be investigated that President Ruto tabulated during his televised press conference last week.

He revealed a pattern of serious crimes that, if followed through to actual prosecution, could land former President Kenyatta and a large group of his cabinet ministers, senior public servants and security chiefs in jail—and probably stripped of billions of shillings worth of assets if found to be proceeds of crime.

On the one hand, it might be laudable that, instead of the usual sweeping of matters under the carpet, President Ruto is keen to expose and take firm action on crimes perpetrated by the political classes. That would send a strong warning to others that being in power is not a licence to loot public resources, subvert the law to private benefit or jail, kill and harass political opponents.

Very slippery path

This is the kind of move necessary to, once and for all, demolish the myth that the President is above the law. 

However, it could also be a very slippery path. An inquiry into Mr Kenyatta and his associates would see President Ruto enter the club of African leaders whose first order of business is to destroy their predecessors. 

We have many examples over the years of insecure leaders whose idea of consolidating their rule is to harass, intimidate and jail all potential foes.

In Kenya, we have a good example in former President Daniel arap Moi, who came into office obsessed with destroying the power base of the remnants of the late President Mzee Jomo Kenyatta’s regime.

His Attorney-General, Charles Njonjo, and the security apparatchik concocted the false story of a secret police squad under the Anti-Stock Theft Unit that had been detailed to keep the presidency in the family line by killing then-Vice-President Moi and almost 300 top politicians and government officials in his camp.

Once the racy tale—told by journalists Philip Ochieng’ and Joseph Karimi in the bestselling book, The Kenyatta Succession—was published, the rationale was provided for Moi to launch a vicious crackdown on those seen as threats to his power. This extended beyond neutralising the former First Family to destroying the economic base of the entire Mount Kenya region.

It also extended to President Moi going out of his way to amass—by theft, plunder and looting of public resources—the kind of wealth held by his foes, which, in his kind of thinking, was a pre-requisite to keeping a hold on political power.

President Ruto learnt his politics at the feet of Moi. God forbid that he wants to embark on the Moi way of doing things.

Therefore, before listing the crimes to be investigated—including political murders, unjust enrichment of Kenyatta family enterprises, land grabbing, entrenched corruption and attempts to overthrow him when he was announced the winner of the 2022 presidential poll—President Ruto has the task of persuading us all that his inquiry of ‘state capture’ is, indeed, justified and not just political vendetta.

He also has to make it very clear that such an inquisition is not meant to divert national attention from the Kenya Kwanza administration’s inability to deliver on campaign promises.

High drama

One sure thing is that such an inquiry will provide for high drama. The eyes and ears of the entire nation will be fixated on proceedings that could see former President Kenyatta publicly hauled through the coals.

There is no telling where it will stop, for any investigation into the fabled Kenyatta family wealth must, invariably, go back to the building of that fortune under Uhuru’s father Jomo and his First Lady Mama Ngina Kenyatta. It would then also have to take a look at the wealth controlled by the family of Jomo’s successor, Moi. 

If public statements and social posts by President Ruto’s propaganda brigade are anything to go by, the inquiry would also target opposition leader Raila Odinga over his role as President Kenyatta’s ‘Handshake’ partner over the past five years.

And the big question would be where President Ruto himself fits into the equation, given that he was Uhuru’s DP during the entire period under interrogation.

[email protected]; www.gaitho.co.ke. @MachariaGaitho