John Githongo once remarked that the Moi administration handed President Kibaki a skunk and he took it home as a pet. He was referring to the Anglo-leasing scandal. Interestingly, that skunk found its way in Uhuru’s administration and thrived much to everybody’s surprise.
The President in May 2014 ordered that Anglo-leasing be paid with immediate effect “…to minimise further loss as the outstanding awards continue to accrue interest.” The President also ordered fresh investigations which looked more like a decision to deflect the growing dissatisfied voices.
Perhaps what’s curious about the ‘pet’ that Kibaki handed Uhuru is that President Uhuru had himself investigated this scandal while chairman of the Public Accounts Committee and had submitted a report to the House on the matter. The sudden about turn and claims of interest accruing were a jaw-dropping moment and remains mysterious to date.
That same year (2014), the government paid for the Anglo-leasing, it floated the infamous Sh.215 billion Eurobond that Office of the Auditor General (OAG) said could not be accounted for-two years after the government insisted it had allocated the monies to the ministries. In his report the OAG noted that the ministry of Water and Irrigation which was alleged to have received Sh11.2 billion could not give any evidence of projects or receipts of any expenditure to that effect.
This year the government floated yet again Sh.202billion Eurobond despite the lingering questions over how the first Eurobond was used. In fact on the same day the government secured the Eurobond, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned the public debt may become unsustainable yet the government insisted we were within the acceptable limits. Again, the public had something to say online and reverted back to the mundane.
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