By OLIVER MATHENGE, Jan. 13, 2016
Mutunga says 80% politicians not fit for public office
• SGR deal was structured to earn huge commissions
• Fighting graft cartels leads to exile or death
• Judiciary, investigators, EACC corrupt
• Anger against corruption to determine 2017 poll outcome
OUTGOING Chief Justice Willy Mutunga has said Kenya is run by mafia-style cartels of political chiefs and corrupt business people.
Eighty per cent of political leaders are not fit to hold office and corruption has never been worse in the “bandit economy,” he said.
In an interview with Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad published yesterday, Mutunga said Kenya harbours mafia-style criminals like Al Capone’s mob in 1920s America.
They “collect millions every day,” he said. “The influence of the cartels is overwhelming. They do illegal business with politicians.
If we do not fight the cartels, we become their slaves. But leaders who do take on the cartels must be prepared to be killed or exiled,” Mutunga said.
His five-year term expires on June 1 and the 69-yearold jurist has already made waves by saying hate speech has pushed Kenya to the edge of an abyss of ethnic violence in next year’s election.
In his interview, Mutunga said President Uhuru Kenyatta is dedicated to fighting corruption and this has set cartels against each other.
“Whenever President Uhuru talks about cartels, he is angry, maybe because the cartels are messing up his political programme or he genuinely wants to dismantle them. He is serious,” Mutunga said. Corruption reaches from the very bottom to the very top, he said.
“Yes, I am now at the top. I’m riding a tiger, hoping the monster will not devour me. But as long as I fight the cartels and they are protected, you cannot achieve anything.
You are taking these people into a corrupt investigating system, through a corrupt anti-corruption system, and a corrupt judiciary,” the CJ said.
He added: “If our constitution and clause Chapter 6 about corruption were implemented, I am sure 80 per cent [of politicians] would not be suitable for political leadership.” Mutunga said a bribe collected by a policeman from a motorist is shared all the way up to police headquarters.
“Larger cartels make money through trafficking illegal migrants, counterfeit money, weapons, drugs and consumer goods,” he said. Some operate along ethnic lines, sometimes overshadowing the government, the CJ said.
“In Kenya, the counterfeit economy is worth $1.2 billion (Sh122 billion) annually, according to the Kenya Association of Manufacturers. It supports politicians in a big way,” Mutunga said.
He said the $3.8 billion (Sh388.7 billion) standard gauge railway being built by a Chinese company should have been divided up among different companies in Kenya’s best interest.
“Now we deal only with the Chinese. The deal is based on commission. Guys are saying: we just had expensive elections where we spent Sh10 billion ($100m).
We have to get it from somewhere. Or we have to think about the election in 2017 and we need a war chest. So you have all that stealing.”
Losers on big tenders “come to court and say: ‘under the constitution this tender for the railroad did not have public participation. It was single sourced, it was corrupt’,” Mutunga said.
He said Kenya’s army fighting militants in Somalia protects traders smuggling goods into Kenya through Kismayu port. He cited a UN report and Journalists for Justice. The army denies the accusations.
No comments:
Post a Comment