Waziri wa Fedha Kenya akumbwa na rushwa.

[Indume Yene]

Serikali ya Kibaki hata kabla haijamaliza mwaka, habari za rushwa sasa zinamuandama Waziri wa Fedha nchini humo Mh. Amos Kimunya kutokana na Uuzwaji wa Hotel ya The Grand Regency. Kwa habari zaidi soma hapa chini.

Uproar over Kenya hotel sale to Libya


Kenya - By Andrew Cawthorne and Wangui Kanina
NAIROBI, June 29 (Reuters) - Corruption watchdogs and senior politicians rounded on Kenyan Finance Minister Amos Kimunya on Sunday over the sale of a luxury Nairobi hotel to Libyan investors in a deal they said had the whiff of scandal.

Some called for the resignation of Kimunya -- at the helm of east Africa's largest economy since 2006 -- after he announced on Friday the Grand Regency went for 2.9 billion Kenya shillings ($45 million) in a government-to-government deal.

"The price is laughable. It cannot meet the cost of soft furnishing alone," fellow minister Mutula Kilonzo, who runs the Nairobi Metropolitan portfolio, told local media.

"The country has been cheated, and you can give this corruption another name worse than Goldenberg."

The hotel, owned by a Kenyan tycoon accused of being the architect of the so-called Goldenberg scandal that nearly sunk Kenya's economy in the 1990s, is viewed by many Kenyans as a symbol of the graft bedevilling their nation.

Kamlesh Pattni, who has been tried but never convicted despite multiple probes into the siphoning of some $1 billion of public funds over bogus diamond and gold export, handed the five-star, multi-storey hotel to the central bank earlier this year.

Media speculated that had won him immunity.

Kimunya, who told parliament last week the hotel's sale would be public, said in his statement on Friday authorities received too "sweet" an offer to refuse from the Libyans.

He did not name the buyers.

Critics accused Kimunya of under-valuing the hotel, which went for about 4 billion shillings when Pattni bought it in 1994.


"MAFIA-LIKE"

They also criticised Kimunya for the secret nature of the sale, rather than a public tender, saying the transaction had all the hallmarks of past graft cases that have characterised successive Kenyan governments.

"The cycle of impunity that allows public officers to act as if Kenya is a nation without law must be broken," said local anti-corruption watchdog the Mars Group.

It called for the resignation of Kimunya, Attorney General Amos Wako, Central Bank governor Njuguna Ndung'u and the head of the Kenya Anti Corruption Commission Aaron Ringera.

"If these public officers won't resign, let's demand their immediate investigation and sacking," the Mars Group said.

Lands Minister James Orengo said the sale was "mafia-like." He added: "The entire transaction was fraudulent. ... The sale or transfer of the hotel is not recognisable under the law."

Legislator Gitobu Imanyara said he would present a motion in Parliament to censure Kimunya over what he termed "utter contempt of parliament".

Kimunya could not be reached by Reuters for comment.

But he was quoted in the Sunday Nation as saying he should be applauded for finally bringing money into public coffers from the controversial hotel.

"What truth have I not told?" he said. "If anyone thinks that it was worth 6 billion shillings, why didn't they put up a bid to buy it?"

Media, however, did not buy his story.

"Mr Kimunya, the math doesn't add up," the Nation led its editorial page, calling for the annulment of the deal.

 

[NakuliliaTanzania]

Grand Regency: What does Kibaki know?

Published on June 29, 2008, 12:00 am


By Sunday Standard Team

President Kibaki is in the eye of the storm stirred by the controversial sale of Grand Regency Hotel to the Libyan Government.

The question is, "What did the President know?" And he is not alone; the winds of accusations are also swirling around Finance Minister Amos Kimunya and Foreign Affairs Minister Moses Wetangula.

Calls for Kimunya’s resignation rose on Saturday as the nation began confronting the latest storm to jolt the Kibaki’s administration in the second and last term.

Cabinet ministers Martha Karua and Charity Ngilu said the way the sale was executed was suspect and those involved should disclose what they know.

Cabinet Ministers William Ruto and Najib Balala also spoke out against the sale, saying collective Cabinet responsibility did not mean "sitting down and working with crooks’’.

Kimunya did not produce copies of the sale agreement and valuation reports, amid claims by a parliamentary committee the hotel is worth more than the Sh2.9 billion the minister said the Libyans paid. This has also opened up the President and his subordinates, to claims there is more than meets the eye.

They will all be hard put, especially the President, because of his oversight and Executive powers, to allay fears even within the Cabinet that the Libyans could have paid more, which was not factored in the Government records.

Even if he was not briefed, and since the Cabinet was not involved, the President and his ministers may also have to field questions, including whether businessman Kamlesh Pattni, who put up the hotel on public funds, was paid US$18 million (around Sh1 billion) in two instalments to play ball.

Questions

But the trickiest claim doing the rounds in Government and legal circles is that the Libyans could have paid, and which Kimunya has denied, Sh7.5 billion. With this comes the question, if it is true: Where did the Sh4.6 billion go?

Kimunya, under whom the vendor, Central Bank falls, and who shrugged off the hotel was sold to a single-sourced merchant, has a date with the relevant committee of the House.

There will also be questions on reported sale of a plot lying between the hotel and Kenyatta Avenue, which is also said to have been sold by the National Social Security Fund, for Sh1.6 billion, to Libyans. If it were true, again the question why there was no bidding, as well as publicised independent valuation, would be asked.

On Saturday, Kibaki met Prime Minister Raila Odinga at his Harambee House office, but though their discussions were not made public, the coincidence of it coming hot on the heels of the latest controversy in which Kimunya said he was personally involved, fuelled speculation it could have been the agenda.

Wetangula, because of his docket in the Cabinet, is also believed to be familiar with the process it took the Government to hand over the hotel to the Libyans following the deal between Presidents Kibaki and Muammar Gaddaffi.

There were also reports a law firm with which he is associated, undertook professional work of conveyance, for which is earned millions of Shillings.

The latest controversy rekindles memories of the Sh7 billion Anglo Leasing scandal in Kibaki’s first term, which were vehemently dismissed as "scandals that never were" by ministers, until the denials could no longer hold, given the evidence that kept popping up locally and internationally.

Ngilu, who unlike Karua comes from the Orange Democratic Movement wing of the ruling Coalition, said the deal was shady, should be investigated and those involved dealt with.

Karua joined Lands Minister James Orengo who lifted the lid on the sale denied as non-existent by Kimunya until Friday.

AG in the dark

Attorney General Amos Wako has also said he was not part of the amnesty deal that saw businessman Kamlesh Pattni reciprocate by surrendering the hotel to the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission and Central Bank.

The probing eyes are also riveted on the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission director Justice Aaron Ringera. He entered into a barter trade with Pattni, who built the hotel he has been fighting to keep for 15 years, on skimmed public funds.

In return for dropping cases KACC lined up against the architect of Goldenberg scandal, Pattni signed away the hotel to the Central Bank.

Also on the crosshairs in so far as the hard questions are concerned is CBK Governor Prof Njuguna Ndungu whose institution, which falls under the Treasury, was the theatre of the shady transaction.

The flurry of questions revolve around how much they knew, their contributions to the deal now threatening to split the Grand Coalition, and the reason it was executed stealthily, with some key offices being by-passed.

Even if the sale was by Treaty, the AG ought to have known. The AG also needed to have approved the amnesty deal with Pattni as the Government’s chief legal adviser.

The Grand Regency scam is a test for the Kibaki presidency that said on May 9 that, any minister, assistant minister and permanent secretary cited adversely in corruption would have to step aside to allow for investigation.


http://www.eastandard.net/news/?id=1143989317

 

[kamtunda]

Normally mawaziri wote wa fedha kama si Afrika basi dunia nzima wana Matatizo. Remember Meghji, Mramba and now Mkullo. Dawa ni kuwafilisi kisha kuwafunga wakanyee ndoo lupango

 

[Ab-Titchaz]

Breaking News:Kenya MPs Vote No-confidence On Finance Minister​

Kenya’s parliament has today passed a vote of no confidence on Finance Minister Amos Kimunya
over his handling of the sale of a luxury hotel in Nairobi.The MPs unanimously voted by shouting
‘Aye’ after over two hours of debate on the motion.

The motion was brought by the Ikolomani MP Bonny Khalwale.

All MPs who contributed to the motion, including Mr Kimunya’s colleagues in the Party of National
Unity (PNU), criticised the Finance minister’s handling of his docket. Mr Kimunya’s sole defender
was Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka.Mr Musyoka had wanted debate on the motion to be adjourned
until tomorrow to allow for a parallel probe by Prime Minister Raila Odinga to conclude.

Nation’s Political Editor Emman Omari says that with the vote of no confidence having sailed through,
Mr Kimunya is required to resign from office, and if he fails, President Kibaki has little choice but to
act to remove him from office.The Finance minister stands accused that he ignored laid down procedures
for disposal of public assets and companies, and for allegedly misleading Parliament that should the
Government decide to sell the hotel it would be done in accordance with the law.

Defending himself during the debate, Mr Kimunya denied that the sale of the hotel had been conducted
in secret.He said the governor of the Central Bank Prof Njuguna Ndung’u had briefed the Prime Minister,
Mr Raila Odinga, on the matter.

The Finance minister also denied previous claims by the Attorney General, Mr Amos Wako that he
was kept in the dark. Mr Kimunya told Parliament that he was aware that lawyers acting for the
Libyan firm that bought the hotel met Mr Wako six times.

Pressure has mounted on Mr Kimunya since his Cabinet colleague Mr James Orengo revealed last
week the Grand Regency hotel had been sold to a Libyan company for about Sh2bn. The hotel was
acquired by proceeds from one of Kenya’s infamous corruption deals – commonly known as the
Goldenberg affair – and was recovered in the public interest two months ago.

The hotel was handed to the Central Bank who last week sold it to a Libyan firm. The value of the
sale has been in dispute with Lands Minister, Mr Orengo saying documents showed the price was
Sh1.85 billion and Mr Kimunya replying that the Government gained Sh2.9 billion in the transaction.

 

[Ab-Titchaz]

Debate bungeni!


[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyRGMCtL1-8[/media]

 

[Kipanga]

Hao nao kwa kitu kidogo wako vizuri kwa sio ajabu kwa hilo...

 

[wajinga]

if Tanzania would behave like kenya we would a very comfortable country not a country of small time beggers and thief. Harambee kenya you fougtht for your freedom keep on do not allow fisadidis like tanzanians to rob your country.