Uhuru and Raila wade into referendum duel

PHOTO | BILLY MUTAI Activist Okiya Omtatah at press conference where he announced the launch of a movement pushing for a referendum to change the Constitution. With him is former Cord chief campaigner Eliud Owalo, who had earlier denied links with the movement. NATION MEDIA GROUP

By NATION TEAM newsdesk@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Wednesday, August 14 2013 at 23:30

In Summary

• Movement seeking to change the supreme law unveiled as Jubilee senators threaten to withdraw support

Political battle lines have been drawn after President Uhuru Kenyatta on Wednesday dared governors and opposition politicians over their push for a referendum.

Mr Kenyatta spoke as Cord leader Raila Odinga said he would work with Jubilee Coalition leaders in the push for a referendum. Mr Kenyatta is the leader of the Jubilee Coalition.

The President said the government was not scared of the threats to amend the Constitution.

“Respect the Constitution and stop threatening the government with constitutional amendments to serve partisan interests,” Mr Kenyatta said in Nairobi during the official opening of the African Independent Pentecostal Church of Africa Women Council Conference.

And in Mombasa, Mr Odinga said the referendum would make it possible for county governments to receive more funds, empower the Senate and devolve many more functions of the national government.

“We want a referendum that will increase allocation of funds to the county governments so that development is realised at the local level. It is time the government devolved some duties to

the county governments in order to ease the congestion of duties at the central government,” Mr Odinga said.

Meanwhile, his former campaign manager, Mr Eliud Owalo, joined the launch of a movement seeking to spearhead campaigns to change the Constitution.

The group, known as the March 4 Movement, wants the next president to be elected by an electoral college rather than by popular vote.
The movement intends to collect one million signatures for a referendum.

The movement says it has already collected 300,000 signatures in its bid to amend Article 138 (4) of the Constitution which provides for the election of the president.

But the Jubilee Senate Majority Leader, Dr Kithure Kindiki, accused Cord of hijacking the calls for referendum to push its own political agenda.
He said senators from the Jubilee Coalition would pull out if Cord intended to use the referendum to effect far-reaching changes to the Executive as set in the Constitution.

Meru Senator Kiraitu Murungi also said he and his colleagues were disturbed by Cord’s decision to use the referendum to change the presidential system of government to a parliamentary one where MPs will transform themselves into an electoral college to elect the president.

“We, as senators from the Jubilee Coalition will not support a referendum if it goes beyond the issues of strengthening the Senate and allocating more resources to the counties,” he said.

According to the March 4 Movement, for one to be declared winner in a presidential election, he/she must receive at least more than half of the 431 college votes cast by MPs, senators, women representatives and governors elected in a general election.

On Wednesday, the conveners of the movement said devolving the presidential elections to counties would give candidates from smaller tribes a good fighting chance.

“The current process has been reduced to an acrimonious census of tribal numbers, is prone to electoral fraud, and it marginalises sparsely populated regions and small ethnic groups in what is now provocatively referred to as the ‘tyranny of numbers’, ” said Mr Omtatah.

“We have now started the historic process potentially leading to the first amendment to our Constitution,” he said.

“We shall present the one million signatures together with a draft amendment Bill to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission for action,” he said.

Mr Owalo, who was last month questioned by the Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI) officers on allegations that he was planning to destabilise the government said he had never denounced the movement.

He said he had never heard of the movement before being summoned by the law enforcers who claimed that he was part of the M4M.

“I had no knowledge of this movement when I was summoned by the DCI. But after interacting with Mr Omtatah and got to understand its objectives, I have now joined it. I will do everything to ensure it succeeds in its quest,” he said.

The officials revealed that the movement would be officially unveiled to Kenyans on August 22.

In Busia County, Cord leaders expressed their support for a referendum, saying the move would change some contentious issue in the Constitution.

Led by Busia Governor Sospeter Ojaamong and Funyula legislator Paul Otuoma, the leaders said the referendum was necessary because it would also speed up devolution.

“Due to the so-called tyranny of numbers, the country adopted hybrid system of government which is very dangerous to the national cohesion and integration because it locks out majority of people,” Dr Otuoma said.

Reported by Bernard Namunane, Dave Opiyo, John Njagi, Linet Wafula, Mwang’ombe Mwambeo and Eunice Kilonzo

 

Graft team set to audit major scandals

PHOTO | BILLY MUTAI Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission chair Mumo Matemu (left) chats with Chief Justice Willy Mutunga after taking the oath of office at the Supreme Court in Nairobi, on August 5, 2013. NATION MEDIA GROUP

By SAMUEL SIRINGI ssiringi@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Wednesday, August 14 2013 at 23:30

In Summary

• Controversial purchase of voting kits and the Nairobi cemetery scam among scandals being audited under new EACC leadership

The election kits scandal and the Sh4.2 billion free education scam are among graft cases that will be audited as the new chairman of the anti-corruption commission settles in office.

The agency under Mr Mumo Matemu also intends to revive the Sh1.2 billion National Hospital Insurance Fund fraud and the Nairobi cemetery scandal involving Sh283 million.

Mr Matemu, who was sworn into office as chairman of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission by Chief Justice Willy Mutunga last week, has ordered an audit on investigations into the Sh1.2 billion Tokyo embassy scandal.

He will be working with two other commissioners, Prof Ruth Onsongo and Ms Irene Keino who joined the agency late last year.

The three are today set to meet EACC chief executive officer Halakhe Waqo to set the agenda for the commission and revive the campaign against corruption which stalled after Mr Matemu’s appointment was challenged in court.

In an interview, Mr Matemu said the audits were expected to take 10 days.

“The report will provide a firm basis for us to speed up our investigations.”

Although Mr Matemu did not list the cases to be audited, staff at the agency indicated that they would detail the status of the Goldenberg and Anglo Leasing type of contracts in which the country is suspected to have lost more than Sh100 billion.

Mr Matemu said the audit was expected to show the number of witnesses interviewed in each case, documents recovered, computerised documents filed and forensic materials obtained.

The audit will also examine the capacity of staff handling each of the cases.

Mr Matemu said he hoped to ensure balance between prosecutions of the corruption cases and recovery of assets.

“We don’t want to condone crime at all but we also do not want our county to end up losing what it can easily recover.”

Such amnesties have been successful in the recovery of outstanding rates and loans in councils, municipalities and the Higher Education Loans Board.

Mr Matemu said he would work closely with the office of the director of public prosecutions, Mr Keriako Tobiko, to ensure that there was consensus on cases that require action to ensure speedy prosecutions.

“I want to ensure that our fight against corruption is seen to be fair, independent and based on available evidence,” he said. “We will remain above board and will resist anyone to use us to fight individual wars.”

Mr Matemu said the commission would give priority to public education to encourage Kenyans to start reporting corruption to the agency.
During today’s meeting, commissioners are expected to discuss ways of addressing their staff crisis.

Over the past two years, more than 60 workers have left the agency, many to join the Judiciary and other State departments.

Mr Matemu said more workers will be hired to replace those who left and to fill new positions that now available at the commission’s newly established regional offices.

The commission expects more corruption cases to be reported following the discovery of minerals in some parts of the country that promised to create avenues of mismanagement.

He called for patience if the campaign is to succeed.

“I know Kenyans want instant blood spilt over corruption but I am asking them to be patient as we put in place systems that would ensure we win the battle fair and square.”

He promised to raise the profile of the commission, which recorded its worst performance in five years last year.

The Economic Survey 2013 revealed that the commission handled the least number of cases last year.

According to the report released in May, the number of cases EACC handled declined by 51 per cent, from 7,326 in 2011 to 3,592 last year.
Additionally, the number of criminal cases the agency handled dropped from 2,916 in 2011 to 1,486 last year.

Ms Keino, the commission’s vice chairperson, attributed the poor performance to the leadership and staff problems the agency faced during the period.

Operations stalled

“Most the commission’s operations stalled and this is reflected even in our inability to use the budget allocated to us,” she said.

Whereas the agency had in 2011 advised 2,050 people on the right agencies to report their allegations to, the report shows it could only offer the same service to 1,021 people last year. The number of cases the commission forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko reduced by 49.3 per cent, from 138 to only 70 last year.

Mr Tobiko accepted more than half of the cases referred to him for prosecution during the period.

The number of cases handled by the commission in 2012 was the least for the last five years. In 2008, the agency, then known as the Kenya Anti-corruption Commission, handled 3,868 cases, the lowest previous figure recorded in the Economic Survey.

 

Kenyan charged in US for recruiting fighters for Syria Islamist force

Rebel fighters tear down a poster bearing the portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (right). A Kenyan man has been charged in a US court for seeking to recruit fighters in Kenya to join an Islamist rebel group in Syria. File

By Kevin J Kelley, New York

Posted Wednesday, August 14 2013 at 08:01

In Summary

• One of Said's recruits -- identified by US prosecutors only as "S.M." -- is said to be the perpetrator of a grenade attack on a bar in Nairobi.

A Kenyan man pleaded not guilty in a US court on Tuesday to charges that he sought to recruit fighters in Kenya to join an Islamist rebel group in Syria.

Mohamed Hussein Said, described as a 25-year-old resident of Nairobi and Mombasa, has been indicted on 15 counts involving a conspiracy to send militants to fight alongside the al-Qa'ida-affiliated al-Nusrah Front in Syria.

Said and his alleged co-conspirator, US citizen and Saudi resident Gufran Ahmed Kauser Mohammed, are also accused of seeking to wire thousands of dollars to al-Shabaab insurgents in Somalia.

One of Said's recruits -- identified by US prosecutors only as "S.M." -- is said to be the perpetrator of a grenade attack on a bar in Nairobi.

The indictment states that Said and Mohammed communicated via the internet with a third figure whom they believed to be a fellow conspirator but who was actually an FBI informant.

Last January, prosecutors charge, Said sought funds from this undercover contact "to pay the

rent for fighters who were in Kenya on the command of Abu Zubeir, the 'emir,' or leader, of al-Shabaab."

Said further made arrangements to secure travel documents for Islamist fighters, and "planned how to transport these fighters from Kenya and Somalia to the front lines in Syria," the indictment charges.

In February, US prosecutors add, Said unsuspectingly told the FBI informant that "he had a recruit who would be willing to conduct a martyrdom operation within the United States and be like one of 'the 19.'"

That is a reference to the 19 al-Qa'ida operatives who carried out the September 2001 airplane hijackings and subsequent destruction of the World Trade Centre in New York and a portion of the Pentagon near Washington.

Said and Mohammed were arrested in Saudi Arabia earlier this month and flown to the state of Florida, where they appeared in a US courtroom on Tuesday.

The presiding judge denied bail to the pair. If convicted, each man faces a sentence of up to 15 years on each of the 15 counts in the indictment.