We knew runaway corruption was on the way; well here it is

It’s an accepted fact in press circles that the recent hail of insults from UDA people directed at the media was diversionary.

It was no coincidence they started immediately after the Daily Nation published an exposè of tendering corruption at the Kenya National Trading Corporation (KNTC), which is under the Ministry of Trade. The Sh6.5 billion duty-free import contracts were mainly for edible oil. The details of the shenanigans have been widely reported and need no further belabouring here.

It’s now become clear why the hitherto moribund KNTC was hurriedly raised from the dead by the UDA government. It was to act as the clearing house for tender-driven deals by politically connected brokers. A hefty multibillion-shilling credit line was extended by the government-controlled Kenya Commercial Bank to fuel the deals. I’m selling my few shares in that bank forthwith.

Note: It is not KNTC which was doing the importing. It was granting licences to select private individuals to do so on its behalf. Pray, why not the corporation importing directly? Or the established players in the edible oil business like Bidco or Kapa, if indeed there was a shortage?

Because the intention was for a few emerging buccaneers to make a killing. The cover story was that edible oil prices needed to be brought down in the market while loosening the grip of the established edible oil commercial entities. Good Lord, where did you hear of prices shooting downwards through the benevolence of political profiteers?

Oh, am I forgetting this government has labelled the existing edible oil firms a cartel? Yea. Companies that have been in legitimate business well before the wheeler-dealers in the current government were born?

Companies which have invested billions upon billions in Kenya? Companies that have committed their production here and employ thousands of Kenyans? Do we really want these companies brought down by political brokers who have invested nothing?

One outfit that was granted an import licence had not gone through the pre-qualification stage as regulations require. The tenderpreneur called Mary Wambui Mungai did very well for herself. Four companies out of the dozen or so KNTC contracted to import edible oil are linked to her.

This woman, who UDA has appointed to be chair of the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA), seems to be everywhere a government procurement deal materialises. Conflict of interest doesn’t faze her. Despite her position at CA, her daughter Evelyn Nyambura recently bagged a lucrative fiber optics cable contract with the same organisation.

Wambui is probably a front. (In December 2021 police discovered she was hiding at Weston hotel to escape arrest in a Sh2.2 billion tax evasion case. The case was withdrawn when UDA came into power).

Four of the companies that got import licences are incorporated offshore, in Dubai. The political associates of the presumed owners of these Dubai-based companies are known. Dubai has become a favourite port of call for the nouveau riche in the so-called Hustler government. It’s unlikely they go there just to relax.

Vile language

In this whole sorry mess Cabinet Prime Secretary Musalia Mudavadi emerged as the only sober voice. Unequivocally, he called out holders of political office who don’t weigh what they say.

He meant Moses Kuria, without mentioning his name. Vile language was not an option, he cautioned. Startlingly, the President and his deputy chose to take Kuria’s side. The media has gone “rogue”, they said. Don’t forget being rogue is when you expose the scandals which are now coming to light that are being perpetrated by this very holy, very Christian administration.

True enough, everybody feeling aggrieved has a right of reply. But does that freedom of expression mean calling others “malaya” and other vulgar, actionable insults? Eish! What does Chapter Six of the Constitution say about leadership? Is “malaya” an explanation of what is being done at KNTC? Come on.

The crux of the matter is this: There was a scam carried out through KNTC by a few crooked politicians. The Daily Nation exposed the corrupt deals. That’s why the media is suddenly being called “rogue”.

Did William Ruto recently say – solemnly – he will not tolerate corruption in his regime? What’s happening at KNTC is more than a test of that pledge. However, there’s unlikely to be any action against KNTC and its manipulators. Don’t expect anything to happen. So much for the President’s words.

I think Azimio senators made a huge tactical mistake by walking out of the debating chamber on June 17 when the Trade CS was summoned by the Senate to answer questions on the cooking oil saga.

The Azimio senators argued they could not bear to remain in the chamber when there was a pending censure motion (filed by Azimio) against the CS arising from his media sideshows. However, I think the better strategy would have been to be there to unmask the CS regarding this sudden, new, smelly dealmaking going on through KNTC.

The litany of scandals for only the nine months the “Hustler” government has been in power tells its own story: Kemsa, contaminated sugar, “subsided” fertiliser, NHIF, maize “subsidy” programme.

And others that will surely come out. That’s a record! A deal to buy tractors from Belarus (ever heard of that place?) is cooking. And you are sure the Hustler Fund and Housing Levy monies will be safe? When it comes to greed, you can’t stop it. It’s a condition. Our accountability institutions like EACC can only struggle to contain it. Sadly, we’ll endure like this for the next five years.

Await the whale of a scandal that could emerge from the “government-to-government” oil import scheme with the Middle East. When it blows over, we’ll all be in awe.

[email protected]; @GitauWarigi