Raila’s silence on Ringera baffling

The Prime Minister has been mysteriously quiet on the Ringera controversy. His silence is puzzling the whole country. The enigmatic manner in which Raila Odinga is treating the Ringera affair means Agwambo has something up his sleeve, on which he is probably still working and, when he is ready to let the cat out of the bag, it will be quick and punchy. His first reaction will come with such a big explosion that it will shock both Aaron Ringera and Mwai Kibaki, who has had the impudence to unilaterally give the retired judge a new contract, at the risk of angering the whole nation. The manner in which the Ringera debate has been conducted so far indicates the majority of Kenyans have had enough of the old lawyer; not because he is not qualified for the controversial job, but because of the perception of his sluggish pace to expose the big fish among the corrupt and his apparent lack of enthusiasm to prosecute them.

Having once been falsely accused by a section of the community of being involved in maize scandal, that is said to have included his son Fidel, Raila must be extremely careful before he openly attacks the man who, ostensibly, would have investigated the Prime Minister and his son following the false allegations. Indeed there are some people who believe Agwambo should have called for an inquiry to investigate both his family and himself to prove that he undeniably was not involved in any corrupt activities. Now that a lot of time has passed since the allegations, Raila does not want to appear to be rejoicing at the misery of the man who was supposed to probe him. Hence the deliberate silence. But there are many other reasons that could have made the Prime Minister buy his time before commenting on the hottest issue of the day.

First the Prime Minister must be enjoying the embarrassment the President is going through for acting unilaterally without consulting the right people. Strangely, the President’s imprudent act came about only when Francis Muthaura returned to his office after a long absence caused by ill health. Inevitably, people will wonder why Kibaki deliberately ignores Agwambo only when Muthaura is around. This time, however, he has done so at his own peril. For taking the thoughtless action of single handedly renewing Ringera’s contract, the President is paying heavily, even though many respected lawyers believe he did nothing illegal. Raila must be enjoying seeing Kibaki against the wall for preferring to consult Muthaura rather than his equal in the coalition Government.

Secondly the Prime Minister must be enjoying seeing the President being chased around the political field of intrigue by Parliamentarians who seem to have very little respect for the Head of State. The cat and mouse game between the President and the Legislature proves that Kibaki has neither full control of the Executive, to which Raila belongs and controls a very substantial share, nor the Parliament, which is fully controlled by Agwambo. The fight between Kibaki and Parliament also proves that ignoring the Prime Minister in making major decisions in the country can be extremely costly for the President. The continued silence by Raila keeps Kibaki in the torture chamber for a longer period, where the Prime Minister hopes the President can learn a lesson of his lifetime.
The current confrontation between the Executive and the Legislature can probably be sorted out in court, but before then, Parliament can do something to remove the ambiguity in the Anti Corruption and Economic Crimes Act, which has landed the country in a political quagmire. The warring parties do not disagree on the manner in which the Director and his assistants should be appointed. The bone of contention is on how the Directors’ contracts can be renewed. The President, and the people who back him, seem to think the law empowers the Head o State to renew the Directors’ contracts without consulting anyone.

His opponents seem to think the President has no such powers without consulting the Advisory Board and getting the approval of Parliament. As the debate continues the whole issue has been politicized and old political wounds have been reopened. Parliament should take the fastest step possible to amend the Act and remove the ambiguities. Either the President has the powers to unilaterally renew Ringera’s contract or he doesn’t and the law should be clear about that issue.

Now the debate has taken a new turn with ODM insisting the President broke the law and PNU explaining that no law has been broken by the reappointment of Ringera. The old ODM-PNU rivalries on governance issues are at play in pulling the country apart in political confusion at taxpayer’s expenses. MPs continue to draw fat allowances when all they are debating on is whether or not Ringera was properly reappointed to serve his second term.

Meanwhile the MPs and Ministers, whose files Ringera had opened while investigating graft, wish the debate will never end before Ringera is sent home and corruption cases against them can finally be swept under the carpet. Some MPs are even suggesting that the entire ACCK should be disbanded and Ringera and his complete team should be sent packing. If that happens, it will be the most irresponsible act by Kenya’s Legislature in recent history. No matter how lackadaisical people may think Ringera has been, he has started some very vital investigations which cannot be wished away because some MPs think his reappointment has been done irregularly.

Before MPs send Ringera away and maybe even disband the KACC, the people who pay Ringera and sustain the institution he heads must be told the nature and content of the 498 files which he has handed to the Attorney General for prosecution. A lot of MPs are probably in those files and they would not like Ringera to talk about them. There are eight Ministers who Ringera has recommended for prosecution for corruption. Five of these Ministers served in the former Kenyan Governments and three of them are still Minister in the Kibaki-Raila Government. Wananchi would obviously like to know who these Ministers are and what nature of corruption Ringera is accusing them of. Arguing about the manner in which Ringera’s contract has been renewed will not change the situation. Eight Ministers are still being accused by Ringera. The big question is: Do Kenyans want to back Ringera on this particular issue or do they want to back eight corrupt politicians now hitting so hard against Ringera?

In a Press Statement issued by Nicholas M. Simani, the KACC principle Public Relations and Protocol Officer, the anti corruption body shows that Ringera has made major pro-active interventions that have saved this nation billions of shillings which would have ended up in top corrupt public officials’ pockets .These include a 2.2 billion shilling mis-procurement in the Kenya Sugar Board, one billion shillings mis-procurement of cranes at the Kenya Ports Authority and many other proven cases which mysteriously have been given a total blackout by the local media. What is of greater significance to Kenyan journalists, the vanishing billions that end up with corrupt officials, who Ringera has exposed, or the manner in which his contract is being renewed? What has happened to the news values of Kenyan journalists? What about their own ethical principles of accuracy, impartiality and fair play? The world is watching the misbehaviour of the Fourth Estate in Kenya with a lot of interest.