Silent war in Cabinet as war against graft bites

Newly appointed EAC Cabinet Secretary Adan Mohamed when he, as Trade and and Industrialisation SC, he appeared before The National Assembly Agriculture and Trade Joint Committees at County Hall, Nairobi, to answer questions about excessive sugar imports and their quality. [Boniface Okendo/Standard]

The renewed purge against corruption has sparked off a cold war within the Cabinet, as Cabinet Secretaries engage in a blame game that was not common in President Uhuru Kenyatta’s first term in office.

The infighting is evident, as Cabinet Secretaries have openly – though at times in diplomatic language – blamed each other in recent investigations touching on contaminated sugar, Ruaraka land, maize scandal and influx of counterfeit goods.

Cabinet Secretaries Fred Matiang’i, Henry Rotich, Farida Karoney, Adan Mohammed, Mwangi Kiunjuri and Amina Mohammed, in particular, have found themselves engaged in buck passing.

And as the joint parliamentary committee is authoring a report on contaminated sugar, leaked correspondence between the Industrialisation and Treasury ministries highlight the tension, as the former protested to the latter that “in future, wider consultations should be done to ensure coherent and coordinated actions by all ministries”.

Window abused

That was in reference to the Treasury’s decision to sanction importation of duty-free sugar between May 12 and August 31, last year, that the Industrialisation ministry was concerned had opened an unregulated window prone to abuse by unscrupulous businessmen.

Reports suggest that Rotich, the Treasury CS, and Adan, who was in the Industrialisation docket at the time, could be in trouble in the final report by the MPs.

On Monday, Mohammed, the Education CS, told the Senate Public Accounts and Investment Committee her predecessor, Dr Matiang’i (now Interior CS) and Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang’ were to blame for the Sh1.5 billion questionable payment for the Ruaraka land.

In an apparent indictment of Matiangí and Dr Kipsang’, Mohammed tabled a report by a task-force that was instituted by the Education Ministry to establish the actual ownership of Ruaraka land, and which recommended no payment to the claimant as the land was surrendered for public utility.

Mohammed further described the rush to pay the amount through a supplementary budget as curious.

“We have provided you with the report that was done by our team. We provided it because we believe it is true and factual. These are the facts and the recommendations are there,” she said.

Also on the Ruaraka land issue, Karoney, the Lands CS, blamed Matiang’i and NLC Chairman Muhammad Swazuri for improper acquisition of the land. She admitted that the Government did not follow due process when Sh1.5 billion was paid for the land.

“The government cannot claim advance possession of private land before purchasing it. This should not be allowed to happen,” she told the Senate Public Accounts and Investment Committee.

In the silent war between the National Treasury and the Industrialisation Ministry, the latter warned against duty-free sugar, saying it was bound to be abused by unscrupulous businessmen.

In correspondences obtained by The Standard, Trade PS Chris Kiptoo wrote to his Treasury counterpart Kamau Thugge, warning that they should not, in future, make such a unilateral decision on sugar importation.

The complaint came in response to Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) that had protested flaws in allowing everybody to import sugar.

“The secretariat has, in particular, raised concern that the Gazette notice does not impose any limits on the amount of sugar imported into Kenya from any country, yet Comesa member States are subjected to quotas which are limited by the deficit of 170,000 metric tonnes provided by Kenya,” wrote Trade's Kiptoo to Dr Thugge and Agriculture PS Richard Lesiyampe.

“If left without these checks, unscrupulous businessmen can abuse the Gazette notice through unfair trade practices and therefore defeat its purpose as farmers and millers will not be protected.”

Wider consultations

Kiptoo called for wider consultations by all ministries, State Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to ensure “coherent and coordinated actions”.

Mr Adan told the joint parliamentary committee there was no mercury, following tests on samples of the commodity seized.

This contradicted public statements by Matiang’i, but some findings by the Government chemist that came to light on Monday showed some samples in Nairobi and Bungoma had traces of mercury.

Adan was moved to the East African Integration Ministry in a move that was interpreted to have been precipitated by the sugar saga.

Mr Kiunjuri, the Agriculture CS, had also blamed Rotich for opening a window for unregulated imports that was exploited by unscrupulous traders to flood the market with the hazardous commodity. “When the Gazette notice was issued, we expected only registered importers to do so. Little did we know that other players could come in,” said Kiunjuri.

But Rotich told the same committee the duty-free window he opened last year did not sanction the importation of poisonous sugar, and turned the heat on the licensing agency - which falls under the Agriculture docket - arguing that it was the one supposed to ensure compliance with statutory requirements.

Apart from blaming the Treasury, Adan further blamed the Interior docket for not sharing intelligence from security agencies on influx of illicit goods.

The Trade CS said agencies dealing with sugar importation were in a difficult position to deal with the dumping of the commodity due to lack of intelligence by security agencies. “The agencies concerned with regulation of sugar do not get intelligence briefs on issues to do with illicit trade.”