Mwaure Waihiga: I'll bring back Pandora Papers money
Agano Party Presidential candidate David Mwaure Waihiga.
Agano party presidential candidate Mwaure Waihiga has put on notice Kenyans who are mentioned in the leaked Pandora Papers offshore wealth that they will have to bring it back should he win the presidency.
“I do not want to reveal that I will insist on how Nigeria treated its former President Sani Abacha by demanding that he returns all the billions he had stolen from his people … I do not want to scare anyone, but of course, they will have to bring back all that money,” he told Radio Taifa on Tuesday.
The Nigerian government in 1999 recruited Swiss Lawyer Enrico Monfrini to get hold of the cash Abacha was suspected of stealing from the Nigeria economy in his rule that lasted from 1993 to 1998.
Mr Waihiga said he would use his 35 years of legal practice in Kenya to direct the Attorney-General to issue a general alert to all banks in the world to disclose existence of accounts held by prominent Kenyans who have been in power.
“I am a member of the clergy and I come with no integrity blemish. I will demand that all the diplomats in the country help us get our looted money back to be pumped into our economy,” he said.
He added: “I'm seething with good anger at the turn of events in this country where high cost of living including foodstuffs, raw corruption ... escalating national debt ... we are neck deep into the mess. I want to rescue my motherland and people before they drown.”
Where integrity is a culture
He said he envisaged a situation akin to Rwanda’s “where integrity is a culture to a point where you can drop your phone or cash on the road and those who find them come searching for you to hand the items back to you, unlike here in Kenya, where they will not wait for you to drop them, they violently come for them from your pockets”.
The leaked report alleges that President Uhuru Kenyatta’s family is linked to 13 offshore companies holding more than Sh3.3 billion.
The report did not disclose the sources of the funds nor impute wrongdoing of any kind on the account holders, and Kenyan law does not prohibit any citizen from owning property or bank accounts outside the country.
The information was published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), Finance Uncovered, Africa Uncensored, and other global news organisations.
The exposé relied on uncovered 12 million secret documents from the archives of 14 law firms and agencies that specialise in offshore banking after they were leaked to more than 6,000 journalists, mentioning more than 10 world leaders.
President Kenyatta, in reaction to the exposé, responded through State House spokesperson Kanze Dena: “These reports will go a long way in enhancing the financial transparency and openness that we require in Kenya and around the globe.”
Mr Waihiga said the country only needs political goodwill to demand global cooperation in bringing back the looted wealth in whatever circumstances.
“In my second day in office, I will also demand to be furnished with all investigative reports of major scandals in this country. Knowing too well that my name and those of my family members are not in those reports, I will be in a clear position to go after the big fish. And I will do it,” he said.
Reclaiming what is legally ours
Mr Waihiga said the international community has more than once declared willingness to help Kenya bring back stolen wealth “but owing to lack of goodwill by our leaders, it has not been possible and that is why my entry into the presidential race holds the key to successfully reclaiming what is legally ours denied us by looters”.
He added that the international community “keeps on railing at our corruption and putting us in indexes of graft and in my reign, it will be time for them to walk the talk and help us get at the looters’ accounts.”
He warned Kenyans against voting for candidates who so far have used “more than Sh50 billion” in campaigns.
“Those characters will first reclaim their expenses from the national economy, hence prolonging our pain in experiencing the raw effects of corruption,” he explained.
He said he had budgeted for less than Sh10 million for his campaigns, which he said would properly start on July 4 after he releases his manifesto on June 28.
“Do not be alarmed that I am yet to be experienced on the ground … Our campaign vehicles are getting their final touches at the workshop. I am coming and I will take it,” he said.
