CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
by Joe M'Bandakhai, Kenya, October 1999
THEME = PERSONALITIES
Something radical has to be done if Kenya's economy is to be saved
and if the country is to be freed from corruption in high places.
Is Richard Leakey the one to do it?
The name Richard Leakey was once better known in Kenya as that of an anthropologist and museums' director who searched Kenya's remotest regions for fossil remains of early man. Then in the late 1980s, Leakey a third generation Kenyan of British extraction, was moved from "museums" to "wildlife conservation" where as director of the Kenya Wildlife Service, he was a bitter foe of hunting safaris.
Leakey is credited with having considerably improved the survival rate of elephants and rhinos, through steadfast management. That is to say, before he fell out with President Daniel arap Moi and joined Kenya's opposition ranks. The manner of his sacking from the Kenya Wildlife Service and the considerable abuse he endured, left many people certain his break with the government was total.
But in politics there are no permanent friends nor enemies. So when in August this year, Moi offered Leakey the all-powerful cabinet post as Secretary to the Cabinet and Head of the Civil Service, he embraced it so fast and so eagerly, that his critics said he had no scruples.
But President Moi needed a man to do a tough job: to trim down Kenya's inflated civil service into a efficient work force, while at the same time, to eradicate corruption which had become endemic in Kenya. The country is going through a severe fiscal crisis and something has to be done to improve the situation, or there will be a major crisis.
Donor nations, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, want to see as many as 100,000 people retired from public service, a move that will require attractive financial packages for each departing individual as an inducement to go. Needless to say, there is a lot of apprehension in the civil service about impending job cuts.
Richard Leakey got down to work with a great deal of enthusiasm, so much so, that the fear is, he is already stepping on powerful toes.
His first brief was to reduce the Cabinet from 27 to 15 ministers. But this was never really achieved due to reasons of regional balance, and many powerful cabinet ministers "were not amused" when their powers where whittled down and they were forced to share ministries, without any actual reduction in the number of cabinet posts. They made their feelings felt.
Then more bombshells came when VIP perks like first class travel on airlines were abolished as a money saving measure. Extra cars were also withdrawn.
Next, Leakey began to sack heads of government parastatals, many of whom were seen as so much dead wood, long over-due for retirement.
So, what's been achieved? Alarm and panic has spread through the entire civil service as well as within the money-guzzling parastatals that should have been privatised long ago. Also, there is a feeling that ministers and other powerful individuals are so alarmed by the reforms taking place in Kenya with the express support of President Moi, that those who fear for their future have began "ganging up" on Leakey. They may soon intensify their campaign to have him disgraced.
The fact is; the amount of government funds stolen is simply unbelievable - in fact, a looting spree has been going on over the last few years. The country has lost as much as 4 billion pounds sterling over a seven-year period from 1992, whilst according to a parliamentary report, in a seven-month period from January to July this year, a further 500 million pounds sterling has disappeared without trace.
If the Churches think the debt crisis is what is keeping Africa poor, they'd better take a closer look at what's happening in Kenya!
Some observers say far too much is expected from Richard Leakey and a lot of fundamental issues remain unresolved. They cite the case of Kenya's arrogant "iron lady", Nairobi's town clerk, Mrs. Zipporah Wandera who has successfully helped to run down a once beautiful "city in the sun".
Wandera was found guilty of contempt of court in late August and sent to jail for 28 days. But if the judge thought she was going to jail, he was quite mistaken. She simply left court surrounded by her own security detail and returned to City Hall. The next day she was seen happily parading around the annual Nairobi Show, standing within earshot distance of Police Commissioner Mr.Abongo, who seemed to feel instinctively that this woman was untouchable.
This is a big embarrassment to the judiciary in Kenya. Even the Attorney-General has kept silent. People are quoting this as just one example of a hopeless task for Leakey, if law enforcement institutions like the Courts are so flagrantly abused.
If Richard Leakey can't do something to prevent such abuses of power, then indeed there will be two sets of law: one for the poor and another for the rich and those politically connected.
END
CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
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