Minister Kimunya
Since it has emerged that the sale of the Grand Regency Hotel, was in fact a deal discussed between President Mwai Kibaki and Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi, there should be less cause for alarm. That is if it is true what the Finance Minister Amos Kimunya is telling Kenyans now. My only issue with the sale of the hotel to the Libyans is in the manner of which the Finance Minister handled the matter.
Kimunya is a very brilliant individual but he has not been forthright with his fellow legislators and the public. Kimunya, kept on insisting that the hotel had not been sold. In addition, he has been seen to be behaving arrogantly. I think the reason Kimunya is very arrogant is the fact that the Kipiriri MP is very young and holding a very powerful ministry with immense powers. In addition he has the ears and the attention of the President and thinks he is untouchable.
Kimunya is a very brilliant individual but he has not been forthright with his fellow legislators and the public. Kimunya, kept on insisting that the hotel had not been sold. In addition, he has been seen to be behaving arrogantly. I think the reason Kimunya is very arrogant is the fact that the Kipiriri MP is very young and holding a very powerful ministry with immense powers. In addition he has the ears and the attention of the President and thinks he is untouchable.
He is so egotistical such that you would think that anything that pertains to the Finance Ministry belongs to him personally or his family and not the government. If the sale of the hotel was sealed during President Kibaki’s visit to Libya, as Kimunya is now trying to tell Kenyans, then I have no doubt that there was no corruption involved. My question comes, why hide the matter not only to the public but even to the Lands Minister James Orengo or the Parliamentary Finance, Tourism and Trade committee members.
What is the point of having parliamentary committees that can and are ignored by ministers as they deem fit. It is highly possible that, may be in a quid pro quo (something for something) our Government agreed to the sale of the prestigious five star hotel in exchange for cheap crude oil from the North African nation and the much needed investments. Kenyans should have been told of this arrangement once the sale deal was sealed.
And as long as there was no suspicion of corruption or under the table deals there would have been no problem. Now it is hard to tell Kenyans that there was no corruption in this deal because it smells corruption of the highest order. Although there may be no corruption involved in this transaction, but the Government cannot blame individuals such as Chris Okemo, the chairman of parliamentary committee on Finance, Tourism and Trade and others like Richard Leakey for suspecting corruption in this sale.
Boldly speaking, I can say that it is the condescending attitude of Kimunya that failed the Government and no one else. He is behaving worse than some former president Daniel arap Moi era ministers who thought they were above everyone if not the laws. Kimunya better be aware that in this day and age no one is invulnerable no matter how close one might think is close to the powers that be.
omarahmedali@gmail.com
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Commentary & Analysis
Updated on: Sunday, June 29, 2008
Story by: OMAR ALI
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