Kenya - caught in the act

 Kenya

Caught in the act

Jan 26th 2006 | NAIROBI AND OXFORD
From The Economist print edition

A courageous investigator uncovers more corruption in Kenya. But will the government, or the country's president, be shamed into taking action?

IT BEGAN in early 2003 with a second-hand car. Though battered by Nairobi's bad roads, its owner, a top Kenyan civil servant, was trying to sell it as new to his chum's ministry. It was a small scam. But John Githongo, the permanent secretary for ethics and governance in the newly-elected government of Mwai Kibaki, feared worse was to come. This was the sort of impunity Mr Kibaki had sworn to end, after replacing the kleptocratic regime of a veteran dictator, Daniel arap Moi.

Mr Githongo, an expert on corruption and a former Nairobi correspondent for The Economist, was correct. Over the next two years, he watched as the government emulated its crooked predecessor. He alleges it signed $300m-worth of dubious or fraudulent contracts in the security sector alone. It also inherited $400m-worth of such contracts from Mr Moi's government, and honoured them. Mr Kibaki's most trusted ministers told Mr Githongo the cash was needed to smooth the passage of a new constitution—which Kenyans rejected in a referendum in November—and to win elections due next year.

Mr Githongo fled to Oxford University last February, after receiving death threats. In November, he sent a 36-page summary of his investigations to Mr Kibaki—whom he had briefed on them during his time in office—and to the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC), a hitherto ineffective investigative body. When neither responded, Mr Githongo passed his dossier to a Kenyan newspaper, the Daily Nation; on January 22nd it began exposing the contents. Perhaps not coincidentally, the KACC had stirred itself a few days before, summoning 30 people for questioning, including the vice-president, Moody Awori, and two ministers fingered in Mr Githongo's dossier. Western diplomats in Nairobi, who for years had watched Kenyan politicians gobble aid money, briefed foreign journalists on the scandal. The furore has been impressive.

On radio and television, Kenyans lambasted Mr Kibaki and his inner circle—all of them members of his Kikuyu group and known as the “Mount Kenya mafia”. Opposition politicians, predictably, urged the government to resign. That is unlikely to happen, not least because Kenyan MPs are among the world's best-paid. But Mr Kibaki, of whom Kenyans expected much, looks weak and discredited. His Rainbow Coalition had already split during the referendum campaign; its non-Kikuyu members, led by an adept populist, Raila Odinga, a Luo, have formed a new opposition alliance. And Mr Kibaki is now accused of failing to stop massive fraud, or hunt the perpetrators. Referring to the scams outlined in his dossier, Mr Githongo said the president “was briefed about these issues all along.” His revelations provide a unique insight into top-level looting in one of the world's most corrupt countries.

Corruption in Kenya is not natural-resource driven, as in other African countries. The Goldenberg scandal, which cost Kenya perhaps $1 billion in the 1990s, involved the illegal export of fictitious gold and diamonds, not real ones. At high levels, corruption involves ministers and civil servants paying as much state cash as possible for shoddy goods or services never rendered.

Shoddiness is the key. Kenyans' weary tolerance of third-rate goods allows large margins on corrupt deals. This is especially true of arterial transport. The road from Mombasa, on the Indian Ocean, to Kampala, Uganda's capital, is potholed and dangerous. The rolling stock of the railway running along the same route has not been upgraded for decades, despite frequent infusions of government cash. Such is the general decrepitude of the state, and rapacious fleecing of businesses by the bureaucracy, that it costs more to ship a tonne of grain from Mombasa to Kampala than from Chicago to Mombasa.

Dishing the dirt

Central to Mr Githongo's allegations is a contract negotiated in December 2003 by senior civil servants, to pay $37m for secure passport equipment, previously valued at $10m. The deal was to be financed, at 4% interest, and the equipment obtained by a company registered in Britain, Anglo Leasing and Finance (ALF). By early 2004, the government had paid ALF $1.17m on this contract. In 2001, Mr Moi's regime had signed another contract with ALF, to finance and obtain a forensic police laboratory for $59m. Though no work had been done on the laboratories, the government had paid ALF $5m on this deal.

Alerted to the two deals in April 2004, Mr Githongo swiftly established that the company did not, in fact, exist at the three addresses given for it in Britain and Switzerland, and that no Kenyan official involved in the deals admitted to knowing the identity of the company's directors or investors. At an address given for the company in Liverpool was a small property company, Saagar Associates, which was owned by a member of the Asian-Kenyan Kamani family, with strong business links to Mr Moi's regime. Another company owned by members of the family had gained notoriety for providing the Kenyan police with 1,000 crummy Mahindra jeeps at inflated prices. Saagar Associates claimed to represent ALF; one of its directors had signed contracts on ALF's behalf.

Mr Githongo briefed Mr Kibaki on his investigations. His dossier records him informing the president that some of his closest advisers were prime suspects in the affair. Then in early May an odd thing happened: the money paid to ALF was repaid to the central bank. Several weeks later, a Swiss man, Michel Gruring, who said he was ALF's managing director, announced that the contracts had been cancelled.

Shortly after, $6.3m was repaid to the central bank by a company called Infotalent Ltd, which had been contracted to provide communications kit to the police, and about which Mr Githongo had made preliminary inquiries. Mr Githongo alleges it was also a shell company. In July, another company, Silverson Forensic, repaid $910,000 from a bank in Liechtenstein, and cancelled a contract to finance and supply police vehicles. Mr Githongo says he was told that both repayments were made after the government contacted a prominent Nairobi businessman.

Whoever was behind the contracts had hit on quite a clever scam. By entering into a contract with an entity that did not, in any real way, exist, the government had no legal recourse if its promised goods or services did not arrive. Moreover, it ensured the government would be obliged to service its “debt” to the company, though it had received nothing in return, and though the company had not, in fact, extended any finance on its behalf. In effect, the government was paying interest on loans to itself, in order to secure goods or services at inflated prices. Crucial to the model's success were the unscrupulous businessmen who registered the bogus companies and handled the cash.

Though pleased, no doubt, to have recovered $12m of public funds, Mr Githongo had reason to stay zealous. On May 14th 2004, around the time ALF began repaying, the governor of the central bank, Andrew Mullei, wrote to a civil servant in the finance ministry, Francis Oyula, seeking confirmation that he should continue making payments on $600m-worth of contracts in the security sector, signed with 17 companies between late 2001 and early 2004, including ALF. Mr Oyula replied authorising payments on most of the contracts and promising further authorisations. According to Mr Githongo, several of the companies were mere shells, like ALF. Others existed, but the government had promised to pay well over the odds for their goods. One of these was allegedly a foreign company contracted to supply a naval vessel for $57m, which had subcontracted the task to a Spanish ship-builder. The ship, according to one diplomat in Nairobi, is little more than “a civilian ship with grey paint.”

Mr Githongo says he was informed on several occasions by the then justice minister, Kiraitu Murungi, that senior members of the government were behind the ALF scam and others; Mr Murungi allegedly told him that the culprits were, in short, the government itself. He said the minister claimed the money would be used to fund election campaigns, and was being managed by Chris Murungaru, the then minister for internal security. According to Mr Githongo, Mr Murungi urged him to end one of his investigations. If he did so, Mr Murungi allegedly suggested, a debt held by Mr Githongo's father with a local businessman, whom Mr Githongo was investigating, would be forgiven. Mr Murungi denies all this. He said this week that he was not involved in the ALF contracts; did not try to impede Mr Githongo; and did not tell him that money from graft would be used to fund vote campaigns.

Mr Githongo has not accused Mr Kibaki of direct involvement in the fraud, but alleges that he must have been aware of it. Even after many detailed briefings from Mr Githongo, Mr Kibaki said publicly that he had seen no evidence of top-level corruption. Mr Githongo resigned on January 24th 2005, while in Britain; he had received several anonymous death threats.

Last year, two senior civil servants implicated in the scandal were sacked and charged with corruption. Mr Murungaru was dropped from the cabinet after Britain and America revoked his visas; a former British high commissioner to Kenya, Sir Edward Clay, had earlier accused Mr Kibaki's government of behaving “like gluttons” and “vomiting on the shoes” of foreign donors. Mr Murungi, who has denied that ALF was in any way a scandal, was made energy minister in a cabinet reshuffle in December, by which time Mr Kibaki had already received Mr Githongo's dossier.

Though badly damaged, Mr Kibaki could perhaps salvage some respectability by removing those fingered by Mr Githongo. If not, foreign donors in Nairobi speak of “fiscal consequences”, possibly including the obstruction of loans and grants that keep the government afloat. If nothing else, Mr Kibaki and his circle will almost certainly be punished by the voters in next year's election, just as their corruption cost them dearly in the constitution referendum. If those at the top do not much mind thieving politicians, ordinary Kenyans, with homes and school fees to pay for, increasingly do.

Graft claims rock Kenyan cabinet

Graft claims rock Kenyan cabinet

John Githongo resigned after receiving death threats Kenya's opposition coalition has urged the president to dissolve his cabinet following new allegations of corruption against four senior ministers. Over the weekend, a report by former anti-corruption chief John Githongo was published, saying the four had tried to block corruption investigations. Two of the four, who include the vice-president and the finance minister, publicly denied the charges. President Mwai Kibaki was elected in 2002 on a pledge to fight corruption. But Western diplomats have launched strongly-worded attacks on his administration, saying corruption has continued unabated. Energy Minister Kiraitu Murungi has angrily denied the claims, which he said were "untrue" and an attempt to bring down the government. Mr Githongo resigned a year ago, amid reports that his life had been threatened because of his investigations into corruption allegations. 'Incontrovertible evidence' Opposition Orange Democratic Movement leader Uhuru Kenyatta said: "This is clear evidence that the government can no longer be trusted to conduct detailed and honest investigations into this saga." In a 31-page report seen by the BBC, Mr Githongo accused Mr Murungi, Vice-President Moody Awori, Finance Minister David Mwiraria and sacked Transport Minister Chris Murungaru of having links to a huge contract given to a non-existent company, Anglo-Leasing, to print new high-technology passports, and build navy ships and forensic laboratories. President Kibaki is under increasing pressure He said he was told by ministers that his "digging around had gone too far" and that he should "go easy" with his investigations. The money raised by the alleged scam was to be used to fund the ruling Narc coalition's campaign in elections due next year, Mr Githongo said. He said President Kibaki had known about the scam but had done nothing to stop it. Mr Awori has also denied the claims, according to local media. Mr Murungaru was internal security minister at the time of the Anglo-Leasing contract, responsible for forensic laboratories. He was sacked from government after the UK and US refused to give him a visa. He has denied all wrongdoing. 'Lynch-mob' The government promised to investigate the latest claims but said there would be no "lynch-mob tactics". Mr Kibaki is already under pressure after losing a referendum last year on a new constitution. Kenya has been plagued by corruption for many years. Last year, the Anti-Corruption Commission said that 80% of new police recruits had either paid bribes or used their connections to get jobs.

Four die as Kenyan building falls

Four die as Kenyan building falls

Passers-by joined professional rescuers in the search A four-storey building being built in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, has collapsed on top of scores of people, leaving at least four dead. Kenyan TV said 200 people were in or around the building when it fell. Rescuers have been digging through the rubble with their bare hands to save those trapped inside amid what a BBC correspondent says are chaotic scenes. A doctor at Kenyatta General Hospital said 67 people had been admitted with chest, leg and abdominal injuries. The hospital appealed for people to go to the hospital to donate blood, while police called for people trained in rescue operations to make their services available. Various witness reports from the scene speak of more dead bodies having been found, but so far police have not given an official death toll. Farid AbdulKadir, head of disaster operations with the Kenya Red Cross Society, confirmed four deaths. Calvince Omondi, a volunteer rescuer, told AFP news agency that contact had been established with "several" people trapped in the building's basement who were running short of oxygen. On TV footage, a hand could be seen waving for help from under a concrete beam at the site on the corner of Ronald Ngala St and Tom Mboya St, in the River Road area. Bulldozers and ambulances have arrived at the scene in central Nairobi, but the BBC's Karen Allen says army and rescue workers are getting caught up in crowds of onlookers and passers-by trying to search the debris. 'I felt a tremor' A local man said the lower floors of the building had been filled with construction workers, and that work had been going on to add additional floors to the top of the building. According to a Reuters news agency reporter, some of the concrete was still wet. Witnesses said at least 50 masons and 50 other workers were among those inside the building when it collapsed at about 1440 (1140 GMT). "We were working and then I felt a tremor... and then the building just fell," construction worker Patrick Otiyo, who escaped with minor injuries, told Reuters. According to witnesses quoted by AFP, a large crack appeared in the building before it collapsed. You can send pictures or video to yourpics@bbc.co.uk or by mms by dialling +44 (0)7725 100100. You should not endanger yourself or others, take any unnecessary risks or infringe any laws.

In Afghanistan, Heroin Trade Soars

Heavy Traffic
In Afghanistan,
Heroin Trade Soars
Despite U.S. Aid

A Threat to Fragile Democracy,
The Drug Spreads Death
On Its Route to Europe

Just Three Euros for a Shot

By PHILIP SHISHKIN in Faizabad, Afghanistan, and DAVID CRAWFORD in Berlin
Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
January 18, 2006; Page A1

The suspicious whirring of a motor came from somewhere in the dark skies above the river separating Northern Afghanistan from Tajikistan. Tajik border guards say they shouted warnings and then opened fire. What fell out of the sky was a motorized parachute carrying 18 kilograms of heroin.

It was a small drop in a mighty flood of Afghan heroin that is reshaping the world drug market. Once best known for opium, the active ingredient in heroin, Afghanistan has been working its way up the production ladder. Now it's the world's largest producer and exporter of heroin. Clandestine labs churn out so much product that the average heroin price in Western Europe tumbled to $75 a gram from $251 in 1990, adjusted for inflation, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

In Hamburg, Germany, a single hypodermic shot of Afghan heroin goes for just three euros, or about one-third the price a decade ago. "Even 13-year-old children have enough money to get into serious trouble," says Mathias Engelmann, a police detective in nearby Schacht-Audorf.

The business is also spreading disease and addiction in Central Asia and Russia, where traffickers have ramped up a smuggling route to the heart of Europe. Roughly a third of Afghanistan's drug exports go through this so-called northern route, supplementing the more-established routes through Iran and Pakistan.

¹

In Afghanistan itself, the heroin trade jeopardizes the nation's fragile democracy, which is struggling to consolidate since U.S.-led forces ousted the extremist Taliban and their al Qaeda allies in 2001. The drug industry dwarfs honest business activity. In 2005, Afghanistan earned $2.7 billion from opium exports, which amounts to 52% of the country's gross domestic product of $5.2 billion, according to UNODC estimates. "You probably can't build democracy in a country where narcotics are such a large part of the economy," says John Carnevale, a former senior counternarcotics official in the first Bush administration and in the Clinton administration.

The heroin business has blossomed despite the continued presence of thousands of U.S. and European troops. Some Afghan officials have argued that foreign soldiers should take a direct role in combating traffickers. But Western commanders have resisted, arguing that they don't have the resources to broaden their mission. And they worry about alienating local civilians. "Our primary mission is a combat mission," says Col. Jim Yonts, a spokesman for the U.S. forces in Afghanistan. "We stay focused on our role of defeating the Taliban and al Qaeda."

In Afghanistan, people have grown poppies since ancient times, originally for purposes ranging from medical use as a painkiller to making cooking oil and soap. In the northeast Argu district of the Northern Badakshan province, heaps of dry poppy stalks -- already emptied of opium -- are piled on top of nearly every mud hut, serving both as roofing material and as firewood.

Industrial-size harvesting of poppies began to develop only in the early 1990s, after war and anarchy plunged farmers into persistent poverty. Poppy cultivation became an attractive alternative to conventional crops such as wheat, as heroin merchants used the booming harvests to meet the demand for the drug abroad.

By the late 1990s, the traffickers began to make even more money by converting opium into heroin inside Afghanistan, as opposed to letting foreigners do the conversion outside and reap the profits. By locating heroin labs close to the poppy source, they were also able to save on transportation of the bulky opium, say people in the business and counternarcotics officials.

In a hurried effort to curry world favor, the Taliban in 2000 used its repressive methods to practically wipe out poppy cultivation. But since then, farming of poppies and production of heroin have quickly risen beyond their heights of the mid-1990s. The post-invasion U.S. counterterrorism operations, mostly focused in the south and east of the country, had the indirect effect of making drug business there more difficult. So some heroin merchants expanded to poppy fields in the more secluded and peaceful north, setting up hundreds of hidden labs.

"Badakshan had a really long history of opium, but not of heroin, so people from the south went to set up factories there," says a man in his late 20s from the Eastern Shinwar district on the Pakistani border. He said he spent several months working in a Badakshan heroin lab in the backyard of a house rented from a local farmer. Cooks would drop opium into a barrel and heat it over a fire, then filter it through a simple flour sack. They'd let the purified opium juice dry in the sun. Sometimes using electric mixers, they would blend the product with two kinds of acid. "And what you get in the end is a beautiful thing -- pure heroin," he summed up.

Heroin's pervasive hold on the economy is on view in Argu, a town not far from the Tajikistan border. The main narrow street is lined with wooden shacks selling food, clothes and assorted necessities. Until a recent raid by Afghan special forces from Kabul, many shopkeepers acted as intermediaries in the heroin trade.

"Poppy farmers used opium as currency. They came to the Argu shops and exchanged their opium for wheat, for instance," said shopkeeper Haji Firouz, over melon slices in the office of the local police chief. "Then the heroin makers came to the shops, bought the opium, gave us cash, and we would buy more goods for the shops." Added Mohammad Nahim, the head of Argu's counternarcotics squad: "The drug trade became so normal here that everyone is involved."

The Afghan government has eradicated some poppy fields, destroyed labs and offered incentives for crop replacement. The U.S. contributed $780 million to the effort in 2005, up from $100 million to cover the three previous years combined. In Colombia, by comparison, the U.S. has spent $4.5 billion over the past six years under its "Plan Colombia" anticocaine program.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai tapped local religious leaders to expound on the evils of opium and threatened provincial governors that they would lose their jobs if they didn't reduce poppy cultivation. Those efforts had some effect. Total area under poppy cultivation fell to 104,000 hectares last year from 131,000 hectares in 2004. But excellent weather meant the actual opium yields remained virtually unchanged.

What's more, farmers who switched to other crops say the government didn't provide the help it had pledged. "The government promised cash, equipment, fertilizer, tractors, seeds, but they didn't keep their promises," fumed Abder Rahim, a poppy farmer who now has a wheat crop riddled with diseases. This year, he plans to grow poppies again.

Afghanistan's police and military are strained by confronting the heroin trade. In the provincial capital of Faizabad, the 12-person counternarcotics squad doesn't have guns, radios or steady transportation. There are supposed to be 22 of them, but not enough officers could be found. "I can tell you, I'm really tired of this job," says Maj. Ghulam Muheddin, the 50-year-old squad leader, who received threats on his life and has been shot at. "I make plans to arrest people, and they find out in advance." Maj. Muheddin recently arrested a man named Abdel who carried several kilos of heroin. He was bounced among various police offices and soon released. The major lives on roughly $90 a month. A kilo of heroin here costs $900 and up.

Border Crossing

Afghanistan's long border with Tajikistan follows the Panj River through rugged mountain terrain that's difficult to police. It's the first step on Afghan heroin's northward journey toward Europe. One night in mid-August, Tajik border guards at the Moskovsky crossing shot down the heroin-carrying parachute.

For nearly two years, the soldiers at this riverside outpost had been hunting for an elusive airborne contraption used to transport heroin from Afghanistan to Tajikistan -- but could never bring it down. This time, they had intelligence about an upcoming flight, according to border guard officials.

The next day the machine was all laid out in the courtyard of the border guards' barracks: a red, blue and white French-made parachute outfitted with a harness ring, a German-made motor, a small propeller, a plastic gas canister -- and 18 one-kilo plastic bags of Afghan heroin. The harness ring was to hold a pilot, and the propeller to give him control of his direction after jumping from a mountain on the Afghan side. The soldiers' bullets had pierced the gas tank, forcing an emergency landing, but the guards never found the pilot.

A few days later, border guards at the same post intercepted a water-borne heroin vehicle -- an inner tube from a heavy truck with wooden boards laid on top for the smuggler to sit on. Shudi Nurasov, a skinny 37-year-old citizen of Tajikistan, was navigating the calm waters of the Panj with 20 one-kilo bags of heroin worth $24,000, each bearing a neat oval stamp reading "AZAD PRIVATE FACTORY. The Best of all Export. Super White." But his raft was greeted by armed soldiers when it beached in Tajikistan.

Wearing a glittery green skullcap and a dirty knee-length Afghan shirt, a bedraggled Mr. Nurasov told his story. A few months earlier, he'd befriended an Afghan man in a Tajik prison where he was serving a short drug-related sentence. The Afghan eventually entrusted him with the heroin, under a typical deal: Within a month, Mr. Nurasov would sell the heroin in Tajikistan and then pay his patron $16,000, keeping the rest.

Tajikistan stands as a stark example of how quickly and deeply this drug can wound a society. The northern heroin route through the country began spiking dramatically three years before the 2001 U.S. invasion next door, after the end of a brutal Tajik civil war that claimed more than 60,000 lives. The war's damage, in a country that had been the Soviet Union's poorest republic, drove the Tajiks further into poverty and dislocation. And then the Afghan heroin started flowing over the border.

"We never imagined that there would be heroin in Tajikistan," says Gen. Rustam Nazarov, who heads the country's Drug Control Agency, established in 1999 with funding mostly from the U.S. "We weren't ready." The number of Tajik drug addicts seeking treatment has increased eightfold in 10 years, according to government statistics, with half of that increase coming since 2001.

"This is worse than a nuclear bomb," says Batir Zalimov, a 36-year-old former heroin user who now works with recovering addicts. As in Europe, "the addicts are getting younger and younger," he says. These days, he says, there are users as young as 14 years old. When the first wave of heroin washed over from Afghanistan, Tajik youths had no idea how dangerous and addictive the drug was, especially when taken intravenously. "It was very prestigious, we saw drugs in movies," says one resident of the small drug clinic where Mr. Zalimov works, in the Tajik capital of Dushanbe.

The rise in shooting heroin has spun off a Tajik AIDS problem in the past five years, and 5,000 people are now estimated to have HIV. Eighty percent of all new cases are passed through dirty needles. Tajikistan has just negotiated its first-ever order of antiretroviral drugs.

Russian Seizures

Most heroin that passes through Tajikistan travels onward, through Kazakhstan to Russia. Last summer, Tajik investigators got a tip about a train-car with heroin departing from Tajikistan to a Russian town in Western Siberia. The train was eventually impounded in Russia. Hidden deep inside a shipment of onions in one car were 74 kilos of heroin packaged into round rubber containers made to resemble real onions.

In Russia, seizures of heroin reached 3.9 metric tons in 2004, the latest UNODC statistic, triple the previous all-time high in 2001, while street prices decreased in the same period. In Russia, which already has one of the world's highest growth rates in the spread of AIDS, many of the new infections are passed through dirty needles.

What's left of the contraband after the Russian journey pushes on to Western Europe through Poland and other Eastern European countries. European police and social workers say heroin fell out of favor in Europe in the 1990s, but the drug is making a comeback today.

When prices began to fall as production rose in the mid-1990s, addiction in Germany grew first among the immigrant community from Central Asia, say German police reports. Police statistics show double-digit annual percentage increases in the amounts of heroin seized in Germany as production rose in Afghanistan.

As Afghan poppy cultivation doubled, so too did the misery in Europe, with the deaths per year in the European Union rising from about 4,000 to over 9,000 during the decade. After poppy production dipped sharply in 2001, the number of heroin deaths in Europe also dipped in 2002. In Germany, drug deaths doubled to 2,030 in 2000 from 991 in 1989, then declined to 1,513 in 2002 as the effects of the Taliban's poppy ban reached Europe. Since 2003 the death rates have fluctuated, but are highest in regions such as Berlin that are dominated by heroin imported along the northern route, according to German police data.

Ivan, a 23-year-old immigrant from Kazakhstan who asked that his last name not be used, recalls a party on Christmas Eve, 1999, when he and nine friends celebrated at a friend's home in Leipzig, Germany. Among the gifts exchanged by the five couples that evening was Ivan's first shot of heroin. "I just wanted to try it once," he said. Within three years, all 10 Christmas celebrants had tried heroin, and two were dead from overdoses, Ivan said.

Heroin has more of a stigma among native Germans, says Bernd Westermann, a social worker at a center assisting drug addicts in Berlin. "It's been years since heroin was cool," he says. But German users often take heroin as a second drug to smooth the effects of ecstasy or cocaine.

Heroin from the southern and eastern routes through Iran and Pakistan also makes its way to Europe. Mr. Engelmann, the Hamburg-area police detective, says heroin is cheaper in northern Germany than in the south, in part because of cheaper smuggling costs along the route that leads to northern Germany. A German police report says better roads in the former Soviet Union compared to roads in Pakistan and Iran simplify the work of smugglers along the northern route out of Afghanistan. Russian crime organizations also take advantage of the high volume of trade between Russia and Germany to hide shipments of heroin in a handful of the thousands of trucks that ply the transit routes from Russia via Poland to northern Germany.

As the last step in the trail, some Afghan heroin is making its way to the U.S. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration says Afghan heroin is increasing its market share in New York because Russian and Eastern European drug cartels can buy Afghan heroin on the northern route at a price significantly below the price of South American heroin.

As in Europe, the purity of heroin on American streets has increased and the price has fallen in stride with production increases in Afghanistan, according to UN and U.S. government statistics. Most of the heroin on the U.S. market still comes from South America. But Afghan heroin increasingly is being brought in by Pakistani, West African and Eastern European traffickers, says the Justice Department report. "It is often smuggled through Central Asia and Europe," says the report, and often comes in "via air cargo and express mail services."

Write to Philip Shishkin at philip.shishkin@wsj.com² and David Crawford at david.crawford@wsj.com³

	URL for this article: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113754320927949073.html
	Hyperlinks in this Article: (1) javascript:window.open('http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/info-heroin0601.html','heroin0601','toolbar=no,scrollbars=no,location=no,width=750,height=623,left=20,top=0');void(''); (2) mailto:philip.shishkin@wsj.com (3) mailto:david.crawford@wsj.com

Reform hopes fade in Kibaki's Kenya xnuo

Reform hopes fade in Kibaki's Kenya

By Helen Nyambura

Nairobi - When President Mwai Kibaki was sworn in two years ago, about 200 000 happy Kenyans jeered at outgoing Daniel arap Moi. Some even threw lumps of soil at him.

The brief farewell speech by Moi, one of Africa's last old-style strongmen, was punctuated with shouts of "go away" and "bye bye". It was an act of brazen rudeness by a normally deferential nation which hungered for a new era of reform.

Two years on, hopes of a fresh start free from the sleaze and mismanagement of the Moi era have faded, largely, Kenyans say, because Kibaki has failed to make good on promises to end graft, reform the economy and create 500 000 jobs annually.

'At least the corruption money trickled down to us in those days'

Some joke that Kibaki, a frail 73, has achieved the impossible and made the unloved Moi look good.

"At least the corruption money trickled down to us in those days. Now Kibaki says there should be no corruption but he does not give us jobs," said Ngugi wa Mukami, who runs a small kiosk in the capital Nairobi. "Everyone is crying 'money, money'. Things were better with Moi."

Kibaki pledged zero tolerance of graft in the coffee-growing nation of 30 million to revive foreign investors' confidence and reverse the long decline of East Africa's largest economy.

But former colonial power Britain this year accused the new government of stealing public funds faster than Moi's associates did and said it was perpetuating graft instead of fighting it.

Kenyans wondered what has gone wrong.

'There is no difference between this government and the last'

"Narc's commitment to reform, human rights, and democracy was more rhetorical and hypocritical than real," Makau Mutua, chairperson of Kenya's Human Rights Commission, said of Kibaki's ruling National Rainbow Coalition party.

"Kenya's political elite is largely an eclectic and unsophisticated collage of ethnic barons with no national vision," says Mutua of Kenya's overwhelmingly tribal politics.

Many fear that some of Moi's cronies made an accommodation with the businessmen from Kibaki's central Kenya home region who feature heavily among the new president's associates.

"There is no difference between this government and the last. They are all Moi's people. If they were not, he would be in jail right now," said Samuel Omondi, a cobbler.

"Kibaki just makes his people richer and we get poorer."

Part of the disillusionment has to do with style. Kibaki likes to delegate, is uncomfortable with the trappings of power and hesitates to impose his authority on his ministers.

Kenyans at first relished the contrast with hyper-active Moi, who was a daily feature on news bulletins, hectoring crowds on all topics and travelling the length of the country to promote his conservative, homespun views of the world.

Kenyans also appreciated Kibaki's introduction of free primary school education, fostering of free speech in state media, inquiries into aspects of graft during Moi's rule and a long overdue promotion of Kenya's neglected tourism sector.

"Life is more difficult but at least I am relieved of paying school fees," said Anthony Musembi, a newspaper vendor.

Kibaki's supporters say his delegating habits are wrongly seen as weakness by a population used to autocracy. Critics reply that Kibaki is too indecisive to be an effective reformer.

Kibaki rarely voices his opinion on anything and has been accused of aloofness. MPs from his ruling National Rainbow Coalition often vote against the government in parliament and ministers squabble with each other without fear of dismissal.

Nothing has done more damage to Kibaki than his failure to fulfil plans to change the constitution to trim his own huge powers and set up a premier's post to take some of his duties.

Kibaki supported the post in opposition but has now vowed not to allow another centre of power to exist during his rule. Critics blame venal hangers on.

"Kibaki has surrounded himself with schemers, sycophants, incompetents and yes men drawn mostly from Kikuyu and kindred communities. Unfortunately many of these courtiers cannot think their way out of a paper bag," says Mutua.

The economy remains feeble. Inflation was at 16,6 percent in November versus nine percent a year ago. Kenya attracted $70-million (about R400-million) of foreign investment in 2003, down from $127-million (about R730-million) in 2000.

Alice Wanjiru, a jobless secretary turned fruit hawker, says the current government has left Kenyans a more desperate lot.

"I am not a hawker because I love running away from the council's police officers. There are just no jobs in this country," Wanjiru says.

Published on the Web by IOL on 2004-12-30 11:38:20

Now you know why Kibaki needs such a large cabinet - they all vote for him in Parliament - all 83 of them

The Nation (Nairobi)
NEWS
December 15, 2005
Posted to the web December 15, 2005

By David Okwembah, Claire Gatheru, Jeff Otieno, Patrick Nzioka and Sollo Kiragu
Nairobi

Fears were raised yesterday that President Kibaki's new Cabinet could increase the Government's wage bill to the point that it would either bust the Budget or endanger development projects.

With an 85 member team 34 Cabinet ministers and 49 assistant ministers - Mr Kibaki has given Kenya its biggest Government since Independence 43 years ago.

Shadow Finance minister Billow Kerrow said the taxpayer would have to find an extra Sh5 billion to pay for the cost of four new ministries created to woo back MPs from Ford-Kenya and the National Party of Kenya.

This money would have to come either from the existing Budget of around Sh400 billion or be taken from the additional Sh100 billion already earmarked for developments like new roads, hospitals and schools, he said.

His estimate was based on the cost of the ministers' pay and perks, plus providing new offices, recruiting staff and security officers and buying new vehicles for them and their assistants.

Mr Kerrow, the Kanu MP for Mandera Central, added the move was against the published Economic Recovery Strategy of 2003 in which the Government promised to streamline the civil service, including its ministries.

Two ministers defended the size of the new Cabinet, however, adding that the President had the power to name who he wanted in his team and to determine its number.

Ministers Simeon Nyachae and Chirau Ali Mwakwere said separately the Cabinet was expanded to improve its service to the public.

With 83 out of the 222 voting MPs on his side, Mr Kibaki needs to find only a further 29 votes to defeat any motion of no confidence in his Government.

His majority will also ensure Government business is not stalled by a hostile Parliament after he sacked rebel ministers who campaigned against the Draft constitution in the November 21 referendum.

But this cushion for the President comes at a cost.

With ministers pocketing a salary of Sh585,000 a month plus a host of perks that pushes their rewards to more than Sh1 million a month, an average of Sh410 million will be incurred annually on their benefits alone. And to that must be added the cost of the assistant ministers, permanent secretaries and other staff.

The increase of the Cabinet to a record 34 ministries runs counter to the President's own stated position when he was Leader of the Official Opposition between 1997 and 2002. Then he consistently insisted on a Cabinet of no more than 15 ministers.

A critic of a fat government, which had ballooned to 31 Cabinet ministers under President Moi, Mr Kibaki regularly demanded leaner government.

The nation's founding father, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, maintained a team of only 12 ministers when Kenya became independent in 1963.

The number of his ministers increased to 19 when Kenya became a republic in December 1964.

By the time of his death on August 22, 1978, President Kenyatta still had only 20 Cabinet ministers including the then Attorney-General, Mr Charles Njonjo.

On assuming leadership and after the 1979 General Election, his successor President Moi appointed 26 ministers including Mr Njonjo as the AG.

On his election in 2002, Kenyans expected President Kibaki to live up to his previous words and form a Cabinet of 15 ministers.

However, he started with 26 Cabinet ministers and 30 assistants ... and by the time of dissolving his Cabinet three weeks ago, his Cabinet had risen to 30.

Finance minister David Mwiraria and his permanent secretary Joseph Kinyua were said to be away in meetings and unavailable therefore to comment on the cost of the huge new government structure or whether it would or would not bust the Budget.

That cost, in addition to offices, staff and security, will include perks such as two vehicles for each minister, a car for each PS. Each is also entitled to a Government house in a plush estate and space for their staff.

On top of that, under the newly negotiated medical terms, ministers are entitled to medical cover for at least two spouses and eight children plus responsibility allowance, and travelling and constituency allowances like all the other MPs.

Mr Kerrow at his news conference at Parliament Buildings yesterday said the Economic Recovery Strategy announced by the Government had sought to limit the number of ministers to 15.

He warned that the new appointments were being made to satisfy political needs and not purely on merit.

"Appointments in the civil service have now become political undermining the Public Service Ethics Act which stresses merit," he said.

The MP said the move would be risky for the country at a time when the civil service was supposed to be fair.

Though the Code of Ethics for civil servants required that they uphold integrity, Mr Kerrow said, some would defy it and instead base their allegiance on petty political party interests.

"I foresee some civil servants being demoralised as some appointments will not be based on merit but on political interests," he added.

Ministers involved in scandals had gone scot-free contrary to the code which demanded they be punished.

Narc ministers were wasteful and extravagant, Mr Kerrow added, and none would honour the demands of the code that they be prudent in financial management.

He also asked the Government to investigate all ministers who had been involved in scandals

On the creation of new districts, the shadow finance minister said the Government would have to budget for an extra Sh100 billion to fund the extra 27 district.

Currently, the MP said the Government used Sh400 billion for the 71 districts.

Bribes paid to join Kenya police

Bribes paid to join Kenya police

Kenya has cancelled the just-ended police recruitment drive, after allegations of widespread corruption.

Anti-Corruption Commission head Aaron Ringera said up to 80% of the candidates had either paid bribes or used their connections to get jobs.

He said candidates paid up to 100,000 shillings ($1,400) to be recruited into the police force.

Kenya's president was elected in 2002 on a pledge to fight corruption.

But western diplomats say President Mwai Kibaki has failed to curb bribery.

'Cash in envelopes'

As well as cancelling the recruitment of the 3,000 new officers, Police Commissioner Maj Gen Hussein Ali also suspended about 60 senior officers involved in the drive.

"I will not waver in confronting sleaze or any other crime regardless of who the perpetrators may be," he said.

A stream of law enforcement has been polluted at the source Aaron Ringera Anti-Corruption Commission

A recent report by anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International found that the police service is ranked as one of the most corruption institutions in Kenya.

Mr Ringera said he had video evidence of senior police officers openly asking for bribes, which he said would be passed on for possible prosecution.

He also said officers had toured the recruitment centres, pushing for their friends and relatives to be given jobs.

"From the commission's own observations in those centres, the exercise was riddled with outright bribery, canvassing and influence peddling," he said.

"Kenyans cannot expect officers recruited in such a manner to uphold any ethics and integrity in their future careers. A stream of law enforcement has been polluted at the source."

George Simiyu, who tried to get a job with the police, told the Daily Nation newspaper that after undergoing physical tests, he and some others were told to wait.

"We were [then] called into the office one at a time where the recruiting officers asked for a 'letter from your parent'. Some produced such 'letters' and received admission letters. The 'letters from parents' were envelopes containing cash. Those of us without any were told: 'Bye'."

The Daily Nation reports that starting salaries for police officers were recently raised by 115%, to 10,000 shillings ($140) a month.

Have you ever been asked to pay a bribe to get a job? Use the form below to tell us your experiences:

As I was driving in Nairobi earlier this year, a cop stopped me, and claimed my vehicle was extremely dirty (after I had returned from a safari) and asked me for a bribe as I was causing visual pollution. I refused and he became extremely agitated and threatened to take me to jail with a court appearance. I settled for paying two pounds to get out of it.
Alim Karmali, Toronto, Canada

Are you kidding? Corruption is tightly interwoven in socio-political landscape. It is now accepted as a little vice to a "greater" virtue. You just can't win. Corruption is a state sanctioned "institution" and the little guy just plays by the "rules."
Moses Kibara, Boston, USA

While I have never paid a bribe in Kenya, I do acknowledge that bribery is rampant in Kenya's public institutions. Due to high levels of unemployment, people are desperate to do anything to get a job. But why can't the police recruit the many unemployed university graduates in the street and pay them good salaries. What is $140 in a country where you need more than $10 to feed one person per day and you have not paid for a house? The police salary increment was cosmetic. More than four police families share single room housing. These have been known to lower morals among members of the force in a country ravaged with Aids.
Jasper Motanya, Fort Leonard Wood, USA

Corruption in the Kenyan police force has been going on for years. It's not an extraordinary thing at all. I remember when I first tested to get my Kenyan driver's licence I had to pay a bribe in order to pass the test. Students testing with no money to bribe were failed instantly and asked to go home heartbroken and frustrated. Furthermore if you had 'connections' you would only drive a few blocks and return with an approval for a licence. With no bribe money you would be asked to dive very long distances and in very intimidating conditions. Imagine never having that experience of driving-it's like throwing someone in a lion's den and after all that failing the test because you do not have the right 'connections'! It's a man eat man type of situation but you learn to adjust and move on.
Musondo Maalum, Nairobi, Kenya

Having lived in Kenya for most of my life, I believe the problem of corruption has just gotten worse. This whole 'transparent' anti-corruption drive has only succeeded in driving the bribery underground. Where the police used to ask for about £2 as a bribe, I was recently asked to pay up to £40! It is ridiculous and as you can see from the article it's obviously being engineered from grass-root levels!
Samiya Gaid, London, UK

This has been the normal trend in Kenya for years; I remember bribing police men at the age of 15 for driving with no driver's licence. Whenever I land at the airport, all immigration officers and police men assume I have to bribe then to get into Kenya when all my documents are in order. But on the other hand, these policemen are supposed to support families with only Kshl 10,000 when cabinet ministers are receiving monthly salaries plus benefits worth Ksh1 000,000. I do not condone bribery, but I understand.
Yassin Gure, Washington DC

This is not unique to Kenya. In Cameroon, you have to settle the policemen when they stop your car. I have seen drivers on many different occasions giving bribes to policemen. On my way to the airport, when I was leaving the country, our car was stopped a number of times and we had to settle. The police officer to check me at the airport out rightly told me "give me money, you are going abroad, it shows you are rich". This attitude is unacceptable and must stop.
Eric, Dallas USA

I lived and worked in Kenya for many years and can only say that it is indeed in a league of its own when it comes to corruption. This evil is deeply entrenched within Kenyan society and when the very people who are entrusted to curb it are corrupt themselves, then one cannot see an end to this vice. This is an even more monumental task as it has to be tackled right through the political establishment with a total "clean up" from top to bottom. We can only hope that one day the political will actually comes into existence and tough actions are taken for the greater good of the majority of hard working Kenyans.
Jagdip Singh, London, UK

I had first hand experience of this last summer when I visited friends and family in Kenya. On my way back driving to the airport, we were stopped by the police at a road block on the highway. They could not find anything wrong, so they looked at the back seat passenger and my brother did not have his on. Instead of a normal ticket, he asked for £10, but he kept asking for a tickets, and he let us off with £1. This is normal for Kenya.
Suraj, Leicester, UK

It is a well know fact that the police in Kenya are corrupt. Over the years the problems has got worse. If such scandals start from recruitment, what hope is there for any of these young policeman to ever uphold the rule of law? Unfortunately the poor man on the streets has to pay for all the bribes after the recruits are trained and released on the street to harass and collect bribes from the common people on the streets. Kenyans have to rid this evil for future generations.
Mohammed Chaudry, Stavanger, Norway

Name

Your E-mail address

Town & Country

Comments

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/africa/4534150.stm

Published: 2005/12/16 12:07:57 GMT

© BBC MMV

World Bank says Kenya Telkom should be privatised and govt should step up war on corruption

Sh30bn loan hangs in balance

Story by JUMA NAMLOLA
Publication Date: 12/12/2005

Kenya risks being denied a Sh30 billion World Bank loan unless it fulfils tough conditions it agreed to in the next seven months, the Nation has learnt. The bank’s country director, Mr Colin Bruce, yesterday said the Government would be denied the loan unless it meets the conditions which include privatising Telkom Kenya and stepping up the war on corruption. "We have agreed with the Kenyan Government on a number of issues which we feel have to be resolved before we approve the loan," he said. Mr Bruce told journalists in Mombasa that the World Bank is closely monitoring what Kenya will be doing to meet the terms between now and June 2006, before it decides whether to approve the loan or not. The official was speaking at the Kenya Girl Guides Association training camp in Shanzu when he opened the first regional workshop for Girl Guides. He said: "The onus is now on Kenya to keep her word on the agreement. According to him, "the Government has been dragging its feet on the privatisation of the giant telecommunication corporation since the process started in April 2000." Mr Bruce also said that the fight against corruption was taking a snail's pace despite the formation of the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission . A recent report released by Transparency International-Kenya showed that politicians and the Kenya Police Force were still extremely corrupt. Yet, these were some of the problems the World Bank wants tackled, Mr Bruce said. "The new Cabinet must now get down to business and put up urgent policies that will stamp out the rampant corruption from the Government. They should begin by taking action against all public officials implicated in corruption," said Mr Bruce. The bank also expects the Government to hasten the restructuring of banks and clamp down on money laundering by June next year. "We also want the Government to improve its financial management systems and strengthen the National Aids Control Council which has previously been riddled with corrupt administrators," he said. A lot of time was being spent in political battles rather than in dealing with important issues such as the performance of the economy, he said. "Instead of public bickering, political leaders should address the core issues affecting Kenyans of which graft is one. It is unfortunate that corruption has become a way of life in this country," he said. The Government had committed itself to implement the agreed terms by the end of the set period. But if the conditions are not fulfilled by that time, "then we will reconsider our position, the official said.

Fw: Elections coming?

----- Original Message -----

From: Rasul A Shariff

To: Rasul Shariff

Sent: Sunday, December 11, 2005 9:47 PM

Subject: Elections coming?

According to today's Daily Nation (Sunday Nov 11th), President Kibaki would not survive a vote of confidence in Parliament if the vote was held today. Parliament needs a simple majority of just 112 MPs of the 221 MPs to pass a no confidence vote.

The Nation's best guess is that Kibaki has 99 supporters in Parliament, the Opposition has 101 votes, and 21 MPs are undecided.

So it looks like there will be a vote of no confidence and then general elections within three months when Parliament returns in March.

---

According to the existing Kenya constitution of 1963 :

http://:www.uni-bayreuth.de/departments/afrikarecht/kenyaco.html

If the National Assembly passes a resolution which is supported by the votes of a majority of all the members of the Assembly (excluding the ex officio members), and of which not less than seven days' notice has been given in accordance with the standing orders of the Assembly, declaring that it has no confidence in the Government of Kenya, and the President does not within three days of the passing of that resolution either resign from his office or dissolve Parliament, Parliament shall stand dissolved on the fourth day following the day on which that resolution was passed.

Whenever Parliament is dissolved, an election of a President shall be held at the ensuing general election, and at that election-

(a) each political party taking part in the general election shall nominate one candidate for President in such manner as may be prescribed by or under an Act Parliament;

Rifts plunge new Kenyan govt into early crisis

 Rifts plunge new Kenyan govt into early crisis
Thu Dec 8, 2005 2:42 PM ET

By Wangui Kanina and David Mageria

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki's bid to boost his flagging administration foundered on Thursday as two senior politicians rejected cabinet posts, saying he had ignored the lessons of a stinging referendum defeat.

Musikari Kombo and Orwa Ojodeh rejected the local government and environment jobs respectively. Charity Ngilu was undecided about taking up health, saying she needed to consult colleagues.

Seventeen politicians offered assistant minister jobs also refused, some of them within an hour of the new line-up being announced by Kibaki on television on Wednesday evening.

If more of Kibaki's chosen ministers refuse to serve in his team, they may have the numbers to call and win a no-confidence vote in parliament, forcing him to call a snap election.

The next elections in east Africa's biggest economy, where presidential and parliamentary polls are held simultaneously, are not due until 2007.

The shilling slipped in reaction to the political disarray, to 73.60 to the dollar, down from 73.30 on Wednesday.

"President Kibaki is quickly losing the moral authority to govern Kenya," Kenya Human Rights Commission chairman Makau Mutua told Reuters.

"It is inconceivable that a president could be humiliated in this fundamental way by his appointees, and retain the moral authority to govern a country."

Kibaki, 74, took office in late 2002 with a coalition government which united most of the major political and tribal alignments to end 39 years of rule by the Kenya African National Union (KANU) party of former President Daniel arap Moi.

But he sacked his previous cabinet on November 23 to regain the political initiative after a referendum rejected a new constitution which entrenched the powers of the president.

His new cabinet surprised many by omitting a group of former cabinet dissidents, in effect marking the death of the coalition that brought Kibaki to power.

"There is no coalition. There is no government of national unity. I can say that the cabinet that has been appointed is of recycled individuals from the archives," Najib Balala, the former minister for National Heritage, told Reuters.

MINORITY GOVERNMENT

Nobel Peace laureate Wangari Maathai appealed to Kibaki to postpone the cabinet's swearing in, set for Friday, to allow time for the new team to settle its internal differences.

"If you listen to all the ministers who declined to take their posts, the reason they are giving is the president failed to consult with their parties before making his appointment. It's very important for leaders to be consulted," she said.

Analysts said Kibaki's refusal to reappoint the dissidents to the cabinet was a punishment for their instrumental role in ensuring his humiliating defeat in the referendum.

But far from sidelining the rebels, Kibaki's exclusion of them is likely to spur more opposition to his rule, experts say.

"For the first time in our history, Kenya has a minority government and a minority president. In no democratic country have the losers been rewarded and the winners completely sidelined," said David Musila, chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party, a coalition partner in the previous cabinet.

Ojodeh declined the job of environment minister, saying Kibaki had favored his Kikuyu tribe at the expense of others.

Kombo, a former local government minister who backed Kibaki in the referendum, said his FORD-Kenya party felt short-changed and would take no positions in the cabinet as a result.

Ngilu said she could not bear to watch as politicians tore the nation apart on tribal lines. "It will be very, very difficult indeed as government to deliver services when there is so much hostility inside and outside government," she said.

William Ruto, secretary-general of KANU, the main opposition party, urged Kibaki to hold elections. "We do not believe the country should be subject to anxiety or suspense," he said.

(Additional reporting by Katie Nguyen, Guled Mohamed and George Obulutsa)