Nandi Hills MP Alfred Kete raised the red flag over the railways tender. PHOTO/FILE
There was an air of expectation when President Kenyatta called a press conference at State House, Nairobi on Tuesday.
The
briefing was called against the backdrop of his young administration
reeling under corruption allegations over tenders for the planned
Mombasa-Malaba railway line and the flagship Jubilee Government
laptops-for-schools project.
There has been a whiff of
rebellion within Jubilee since Nandi Hills MP Alfred Keter raised the
red flag over the railways tender.
When the President
finally emerged from State House, two hours late, he went straight into
the history and justification of the standard gauge railway project
inherited from the Kibaki administration.
Contrary to
expectations that he might respond to critics and sceptics by at least
suspending implementation while the accusations of improprieties were
investigated, his was a strong affirmation that the project would
proceed despite the noises.
He did not even bother to
respond to specific accusations, going straight ahead pointing accusing
fingers at local and international “commercial interest groups” whom he
said fuelled conflict every time they lost out in the bidding for major
infrastructure projects.
CONFLICTING INTERESTS
President
Kenyatta was alluding to word doing rounds, that much of the recent
whistle-blowing on alleged corruption over the railway tender, the free
laptops procurement and the NSSF Tassia housing development controversy,
was driven not so much by altruistic motives, but by unsuccessful
bidders trying to scuttle the work until they get a foot in.
Indeed,
there seems to be emerging evidence that commercial interests have been
at play, as seen by the number of shadowy businessmen recently hovering
all over newsrooms volunteering negative dossiers on rival bidders.
The
spectre is also emerging of the powerful comeback of well-connected
brokers and wheeler-dealers congregating around Cabinet secretaries and
powerful officials at the Office of the President and State House
without whose helping hand bidders for big projects cannot get anywhere.
The State House press conference was called just
three days after key Jubilee figures in Parliament, National Assembly
Majority Leader Aden Duale and his Senate counterpart Kithure Kindiki,
led an orchestrated chorus giving the President an ultimatum of seven
days to expose alleged saboteurs within the government who were accused
of being behind the corruption claims.
The President,
however, did not mention names. He left questions hanging in the air as
to the identity of the anonymous merchants and their contacts within the
system.
He actually was silent on the allegations of
saboteurs within government and the demand for heads to roll as came out
during the weekend counter-offensive.
TAKE A RIDE
His
was just a strong reiteration that the railway project would go on
despite the criticism. He insisted that everything around the
procurement was above board and within the law.
His
only paean to any possibility of something wrong was that those with
evidence were free to table it before the parliamentary committees
investigating the deal, or present it directly to him.
President Kenyatta was generally telling detractors that they can take a ride.
It was a strong statement of unwavering commitment to the project, and confidence in the integrity of the procurement.
The
problem is that if any really damaging evidence is presented in the
days to come, the President will be left holding the can.
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