If corruption was the lubricant that in the past oiled Kenya’s politics, it is now the enfant terrible that gobbles up its progenitors.
Three weeks ago, this horrible child of Kenya’s politics strolled into town, scalping no less than three of President Mwai Kibaki’s ministers and his personal assistant. Pressure is mounting on Vice-President Moody Awori, the head of the civil service, the attorney general and at least two other ministers to resign.
Expectations are high that there will be more sackings. A report by former permanent secretary of ethics and governance, John Githongo, was leaked to the press three weeks ago and indicts Kibaki as the patron saint of an intricate web of high-level corruption.
Githongo, now exiled in the United Kingdom, argues that, having uncovered corrupt deals hatched towards the end of former president Daniel arap Moi’s rule, Kibaki’s cronies did not stop it; they took charge of it.
The revelation is the last in a current of damning political events that is driving Kibaki’s boat into the rapids, and may yet mark the inauspicious onset of an undeclared lame-duck presidency.
The ministers axed as a result of post-Moi corruption, that has been termed the Anglo-Leasing scandal, were some of Kibaki’s staunchest and boldest supporters. Their exit punches holes in his already thin last line of defence.
An interesting aside is the resignation of minister of education George Saitoti, Moi’s vice-president up to 2002. While not implicated in the Anglo-Leasing scandal, a commission of inquiry set up by the Kibaki government to probe the Moi-era has implicated him.
The commission wound up its work last year. It is interesting that its report was released, possibly at the prodding of the government, at exactly the time the Anglo-Leasing debacle blew up.
This could be read as a countermeasure to contain the political damage of the latest revelations. It would appear that Saitoti — who stuck with Kibaki after his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) broke ranks with the ruling alliance after last year’s constitutional referendum — is a casualty of friendly fire.
Saitoti was touted as a potential presidential successor and reportedly had the backing of the influential “Mount Kenya Mafia”, Kibaki’s kitchen cabinet from his home province.
Yet, as Kibaki’s star dims, both his closest courtiers and his most virulent opponents are celebrating. Previously, Kibaki’s inner circle was split between an old guard, his business buddies and a bunch of abrasive and ambitious political greenhorns.
The sacked ministers represented the latter group and their exit no doubt expands the latitude of the veterans to play their hand without the inconvenience of the youth.
The opposition is naturally gleeful at the growing prospect of finally pushing Kibaki out of power without breaking a sweat, especially for members of the opposition who served under Moi. The drama of Kibaki’s spectacular failures turns the spotlight away from their own sins of the past. Jilted former allies of Kibaki, notably the LDP, led by Raila Odinga, also feel vindicated.
Kibaki’s foes and friends are certainly bracing for a bigger tussle in the next few months. The key moment will be when Kenya’s enfant terrible will turn its menacing attention to the president himself. The futile prayer that many a Kenyan politician is silently saying is: Let this be the last we hear of this child.
Godfrey Chesang is a doctoral fellow at the Centre for Africa’s International Relations at Wits University