CORD leader Raila Odinga has claimed that the Government has refused to recover some US$200 million (approximately Sh17 billion) allegedly frozen in Swiss bank accounts.
The money, he says, was made as payments for some of the Anglo Leasing contracts made by the previous administrations.
Mr Raila said the money lying in the Swiss bank accounts could be recovered and refunded back to the Kenya.
The former Prime Minister, during an interview with KTN on Tuesday night, wondered why public funds were being used to pay non-existent debts.
“The Government is giving you just one side of the picture. There is another picture. They may say that they went to court and lost one or two cases but there are also other areas where we won the cases. For example, someone who was involved in inflating the prices was arrested and prosecuted in Britain,” he said.
He gave an example of a suspect who spent more than two years in prison in Britain, and when he was released, he had a mental breakdown.
During the interview, Raila explained that the British and Swiss governments followed some of the money, which was then frozen.
The CORD leader maintained that some of the contracts, majority of which were non-existent, had been paid for. He however said the naval ship purchased from Spain was inspected by a parliamentary committee.
“Former Governance and Ethics Permanent Secretary John Githongo did quite a lot of investigations and he knows that as we are talking, there is over $200 million which is part of those contacts whose payments were made and have been frozen and lying in a Swiss bank account,” said Raila.
At the same time, CORD has given the Government until July 7, 2014 to have a structured dialogue failure to which the coalition will invite the public to decide on the issue.
Country in crisis
According to Raila, the country is facing several crises that could not be ignored by the opposition.
“Nobody can deny that there is a crisis in the country and we saw the need for people to dialogue. If they don’t, we will ask Kenyans what they want on Saba Saba,” said Raila.
He also accused the Government of disharmony, referring to Madaraka Day celebrations where the President said he was ready for national dialogue only to be later contradicted by Jubilee coalition.
On Saturday, Deputy President William Ruto had said there would be no dialogue with CORD but President Uhuru Kenyatta agreed to the talks on Sunday in his Mandaraka Day speech.
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The CORD leader however, made it clear that they were not calling for a joint coalition with the Government but were rather concerned with the way the increased insecurity, corruption and devolution were being handled.
Raila said insecurity in Kenya is not about the Al Shabaab but was much more widespread and there was need for comprehensive discussions on how to tackle it.
He pointed out that the issues affected everyone including CORD supporters, and that the opposition will not sit back and watch for the next five years as the situation gets worse.
“We are saying let them run the Government, that is why they are there, but we feel there are certain issues which we cannot just ignore and wait until after the next elections,” he said.
He also blamed the Government for practicing politics of exclusion, particularly in public appointments, saying that people were being appointed on the basis of where they come from, thus leaving out a large population.
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