Kenya admits losing war on graft, wants ‘blood’

NAIROBI – Singled out by Western powers for its tolerance of corruption, Kenya is losing the battle on graft and must “spill blood” soon, a member of President Mwai Kibaki’s government said in comments published yesterday.

“Our talk against corruption is being dismissed as ‘talk and talk and do nothing strategy’,” Justice Minister Kiraitu Murungi said. “The old networks of corruption have not been broken and have become very bold,” he added in an extraordinary admission of official impotence.Murungi, in a speech to a meeting of anti-corruption groups and officials in Nairobi, said the Kibaki government needed to turn the tide immediately or risk losing credibility.”We have spent time aiming at the enemy.It is now time to pull the trigger and spill blood,” he said in the speech, which was widely reported in local media.Kibaki came to power in 2002 vowing to clean up politics after strongman President Daniel arap Moi’s 24-year rule during which official corruption was virtually institutionalised.But critics – including Britain and the United States – say past corruption has continued unabated.Former UK envoy Edward Clay said last year corrupt officials were “eating like gluttons” before “vomiting” on the shoes of donors and gave Kibaki a list of 20 dubious procurement tenders.Graft watchdog Transparency International still ranks Kenya among the most corrupt countries in the world, and donors estimate it has lost US$1 billion to graft in the past three years – nearly a fifth of its 2004/2005 budget.Washington joined the fray last month, with US ambassador William Bellamy saying high-ranking Kenyan officials were “pursuing with impunity their money-making enterprises” at the expense of Kenya’s taxpayers and poor.Justice Minister Murungi recalled that in January of this year he had vowed 2005 would be a year of action on graft but “eight months down the road, very little seems to be happening.The fight against corruption has lost momentum.”Kenyans were tired of reporting corruption but seeing nothing happen, the minister added.- Nampa-Reuters”The old networks of corruption have not been broken and have become very bold,” he added in an extraordinary admission of official impotence.Murungi, in a speech to a meeting of anti-corruption groups and officials in Nairobi, said the Kibaki government needed to turn the tide immediately or risk losing credibility.”We have spent time aiming at the enemy.It is now time to pull the trigger and spill blood,” he said in the speech, which was widely reported in local media.Kibaki came to power in 2002 vowing to clean up politics after strongman President Daniel arap Moi’s 24-year rule during which official corruption was virtually institutionalised.But critics – including Britain and the United States – say past corruption has continued unabated.Former UK envoy Edward Clay said last year corrupt officials were “eating like gluttons” before “vomiting” on the shoes of donors and gave Kibaki a list of 20 dubious procurement tenders.Graft watchdog Transparency International still ranks Kenya among the most corrupt countries in the world, and donors estimate it has lost US$1 billion to graft in the past three years – nearly a fifth of its 2004/2005 budget.Washington joined the fray last month, with US ambassador William Bellamy saying high-ranking Kenyan officials were “pursuing with impunity their money-making enterprises” at the expense of Kenya’s taxpayers and poor.Justice Minister Murungi recalled that in January of this year he had vowed 2005 would be a year of action on graft but “eight months down the road, very little seems to be happening.The fight against corruption has lost momentum.”Kenyans were tired of reporting corruption but seeing nothing happen, the minister added.- Nampa-Reuters