John Githongo strikes back
Monday, January 23rd, 2006 at 3:52 PM
First an observation. Those of us who style ourselves as political analysts, commentators, satirists, scientists who operate mainly from the internet enjoy the best of both worlds. We sit and moan and type and rage and type and cry and type and insult all before us in the name of our art WITHOUT having to put our money where our mouths are. Who knows what positions we hold and what information we are privy too that we choose not to share? Who knows how much we have eaten in TKK in the last month? If we are part of the 10% brigade? If we are being paid by news outlets to highlight or ignore certain stories or issues? Most of us aren’t even brave or crazy enough to sign our names to what we write (me included) as we convince ourselves that forces out there may be out to get us. Yes journalists get paid and ours is more or less a hobby but the fact remains, we certainly talk the talk but do not even have to pretend to walk the walk.
This is why I found the criticism of Githongo when he resigned his position hard to take. In my opinion most of the criticism was spineless or at the best mental laziness of the highest order. Most of us are to shy/scared to sign our names to our positions and here is man who gave up a lucrative job for his country, swam constantly against the tide, stood up to the monsters we caricature daily, and when he gets to the bottom of the scandal after scandal and finds his life in danger some of us sit and mock. People die when the do half of what he does yet there is an email going around that actually has the audacity to label the man, “Disappointment of the year”. How do you want him to prove his conjones? By dying? Only then will he be worthy in your eyes? Please. How many of the so called NGO types would have done what he did. He could have sat in Transparency International releasing report after report (which was dangerous enough all ready) collected his pay check and his international speaking fees all without getting his feet wet. But he stood up, laid down his conditions and took a job that most of us would have ran away from like we were being chased by Conjestina Achieng and actually left with his integrity and his neck in check. We complain and complain about the political elite being one and the same. Orange, Banana, KANU, DP, LDP all the same. And here is a man who was invited into the top tier of that political elite and refused to be turned. In short the kind of man we have been calling for and instead of lauding him, we label him a coward. Would we have been shocked if he had pocketed the money, the acres of land, the multi million contracts and agreed not to rock the boat? Look at the precedent. How many human right activist, anti corruption activist who used to make noise for Moi daily some even refusing to shave their hair walk around with rose tinted glasses in the back of the ministerial limousines these days?
And while many of us were frothing away at our keyboards searching thesauri for yet another insult to throw at the man he put together his account of the corruption that breaks our country and has released it. No little fish here, we are talking about the head of state, his vice and senior ministers. Not a broke cop trying to hustle a loose 1000 bob at traffic check point, but corruption that can bring a country to its knees.
Disappointment/coward of the year? Give me break. I said a year ago he left with his integrity intact and I stand by that. Some of us wouldn’t recognise a patriot if he walked up to us and slapped us in the face. This might be the second year in a row where my person of the year is actually decided in January.
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33 Comments Add your own
1. msaniixl | January 23rd, 2006 at 4:26 pm
Thanks for posting this..
2. Keguro | January 23rd, 2006 at 4:53 pm
Yes. But.
I have no accusations to throw around about his character. As you point out, I’m in no position.
I do find the timing of his report strangely auspicious, especially at a time when our so-called opposition have been putting mounting pressure on the government. First Maina Kiai publishes a report about 80 million in expenditures and then Githongo comes out, at the same time that Uhuru and friends have been getting very loud.
Perhaps he simply knows how to choose his timing. But my skeptical ears perked up. (Yes, very dog-like.)
For all that, let’s see if the government does anything more than make noise.
3. Scott | January 23rd, 2006 at 5:06 pm
I respect your decision to remain anon.
A question was posed on another website that validates your decision, why have numerous people been murdered in Naivasha in the past few years? A filmmaker and the owner of Crater Lake just to name a few? Political assisnations are blamed on robbery…
Githongo is indeed a brave man.
4. Whispering Inn | January 23rd, 2006 at 8:53 pm
I’ve always said that Githongo did, and continues to do, an incredible job under extremely unfavorable circumstances.
I have to disagreee with Keguro and those who think alike though. Here’s a man who has risked life, limb and sanity for country and all you can see are some phantom ulterior motives? C’mon now, my friend!
5. Keguro | January 23rd, 2006 at 10:05 pm
I am trained to follow “phantom ulterior motives.” But point taken.
Accusations of corruption at “the highest level” are not new. I am more interested in their seeming proliferation in the space of a few months.
I’m with Macharia Gaitho on this one: let’s see what happens.
On the other hand, I wonder what it means that to launch critiques–and not fear for our jobs and lives–we have to live outside the country or publish anonymously?
6. Mambo | January 23rd, 2006 at 11:59 pm
Good post, Mental. Githongo did the right thing by moving to the UK. But I’m curious as to why he’s released this report now… he can’t have been sitting on it all this time.
7. W.M. | January 24th, 2006 at 12:15 am
I think I channeled you or you me…I was just making that very argument (nowhere near as eloquently as you, brudder) on M’s blog, where I was violating protocol by blogging on the man’s blog. But I had taken issue with the dissapointment of the year appellation as well, pointing out that when people are offering quite earnestly to send you into the afterlife, perhaps it is time to step. As well, that just because Githongo did not go about making a huge production out of his business, but just got down to doing what he had to do, is no reason for those of little faith to condemn him. I’d have liked them to see them survive one day of his recent life. And when a person resigns for reasons of ethical repugnance, and that person happens to BE our official in charge of ethics, then the rest of us better take a long slow look at the circumstances surrounding this event. Githongo doesn’t need to justify himself, nor even to seek vindication or validation. But on his behalf, I am frankly gloatingly glad that at one fell swoop he has silenced the naysayers. I would like to point out that his recent actions put him in even greater danger than before, and I would imagine also leave him vulnerable to all sorts of charges resulting from his disclosures. He’s always been a hero in my book, and he’s staying that way. He’s just not very good at the boasting business or even self-justification moves, poor man, so I thank you, Mental, for swinging your sword on his behalf. Would that we all had a tenth of his courage!
8. Whispering Inn | January 24th, 2006 at 1:13 am
@Keguro - It’s terribly sad that folks like Githongo run the risk of losing their lives or their jobs for carrying out their responsibilities. Doesn’t Delay (and Abramoff) make you wistful?
9. esorg | January 24th, 2006 at 3:59 am
@Mental aye aye
@Keguro I don’t think the man has any political ulterior motiveness in his bones I believe he is purely driven by a strong sense of ethics and if he feels strongly repugniated like me about thugs, thieves and people who are content to let children in Korogocho sleep hungry so that they can drive limos and live in castles, i don’t care the timimg of his report. I have not read it but I hope he has named names and I can only hope that their heads will roll this time!! For once I would like to see someone pay for stealing our money.
10. Prousette | January 24th, 2006 at 9:42 am
In life timing is everything. Githongo has done his job and done it well. We would not have listened two months ago as we were busy throwing fruits at each other.
I just hope (against hope tho’) that heads will roll.
11. W.M. | January 24th, 2006 at 12:21 pm
And another thing:
It seems to me to be quite besides the point as to why he chose this particular moment to release his bombshell. All of us are complex people and John is not unique in not being an amoeba. However, this simply does not pass the so what test? I don’t actually care if he has other reasons or what they are: I only care that he has done what he has done, at considerable risk and danger to himself (again); that he has done it without equivocation; that (as I pointed out in a long ago blog) he is one of those people who do the right thing instead of the sensible thing; that he has sacrificied considerably on your account and on mine. I don’t really understand what the rest of it is about. Um, why did Dedan Kimathi choose to go into the forests at the exact time that he did? It may have been that he had creditors chasing him, or was having an intolerable home life, so that his actions were satisfying to him in more ways than one, but the only action that is our business is that he did go, that he provided us with an enduring image of a hero, that he too, died on our behalf. Would the creditors or the dysfunctional home life in any respect detract from his significance and his ineffable courage? I think not. Okay, I’ll stop blogging on other people’s blogs now–I actually have quite a long blog on this myself (chez moi) but obviously, I hadn’t quite finished that which I wanted to say. So thanks Mental, for letting me go on.
12. Shiroh | January 25th, 2006 at 12:55 pm
Your comments section always forgets me and entering data is not a hobby i partake with a smiling face.
Howdy?
Githongo is a coward.
The reason why this man run is because he betrayed the President even more than Judas did Jesus.
He released the report to Clay, before he did the President who had given him the mandate to investigate.
The timing is wrong! right? who cares?
Why do i think (without being defensive of hte government) Anglo leasing was meant to sabotage the Narc Govt by KANU and Githongo the Machinery?
13. Whispering Inn | January 25th, 2006 at 4:22 pm
@Shiroh - What?! ARE you kidding me?! Billions are stolen, our country is ruined irreparably, your future and your children’s are jeopardized, millions of innocent people suffer will continue to for generations because of a few greedy individuals and, all you can come up with is betrayal and Judas rubbish? My dear Shiroh, maybe they got to you. Get more info then reconsider your position sweetheart. I don’t think you belong on that side of the fence. Maybe I am wrong.
14. mshairi | January 25th, 2006 at 9:53 pm
I don’t understand why people are questioning why John Githongo only released his report now. Have they forgotten the detentions and political imprisonments that took place in Kenya as recent as the eighties for goodness sake?
15. W.M. | January 26th, 2006 at 5:24 am
Shjiro, forgive me.
But perhaps if you could show us which of your own actions prove Githongo a coward in comparison? If you could tell us that patriotism lies in loyalty to corruption, to mendacity, to greed and to venality of the few and the priviledge rather than to the people of Kenya? It would be most educational.
I apologise for my confrontational tone: really, I don’t want to fight with you. But can you even begin to imagine what it means to occupy a senior post in government surrounded by people all on the take and a)refuse to join them b)attempt to stop them and then c)attempt to tell your leader who promised you access and action in all cases like these?
What is cowardice. Staying and playing the game, making no ripples, counting your growing bank balance in the quiet of your mansion, or LEAVING and by that simple action condemning the governemnt (remember what he had said were the only conditions under which he would leave) and then working quietly for more than a year to put down, sequentially, irrefutably, and inexorably a document that puts your life in danger because it threatens the most powerful in the land, threatens to upset the status quo, and frankly, just may mean the end of your life. Do you know what John Githongo says about the threat to his life (he’s had many…even in Oxford he has had more company than he wanted)? He says that it is nothing, that he is only one life and one man, and that compared to the changes that might just possibly be made as a result of his actions, he counts the price a small one. Okay, maybe I am biased, but a man ready to risk his life on a “maybe” is pretty special to me. And if he is a coward; I really am acutely interested in understanding your definition of a non-coward.
With respect (and really, apologies for tearing into you, but someone had to answer you)
Me.
16. Shiroh | January 26th, 2006 at 11:10 am
@whisperin In, you see i have never read the report and as you know i have a hard time believing the Kenyan Press.
In the 20+ i have lived in Kenya i have never received nor offered a bribe.
I do not have concrete evidence anad i repeat i do not have any evidence that indeed Anglo Leasing happened and neither do you unless of course you could kindly drop me the report.
Githongo is still a coward but we have seen he has lived to fight again. Recoiled to dine with the British (should i repeat again) Political persecussions are not done as glaringly as they used to be done. And for sure only a foolish man would kill Githongo.
what do you think is the worst thing that could have happened to him had he gone public? So do you think the Managing Editor of Nation is going to run to Britain now? It is the power to stand the heat that we Kenyans are asking from everybody.
If there was nowhere he could have run to?
17. Mocha! | January 26th, 2006 at 4:09 pm
I said it and I will say it again…….even when faced with the truth, Kenyans don’t like hearing it and yet they demand for it.
Human nature sure, but for Kenyans it is a disease!
18. Luke | January 26th, 2006 at 9:50 pm
what many of you seem to be missing is that the report githongo has released goes beyond him. it’s about grand corruption in kenya by the highest powers that be. who gives a FF what githongo’s perceived motives, real or imagined may be. even if it is said he did what he did for purely political reasons that doesn’t change the fact that crimes have ben committed. for those saying they will adopt a wait n see attitude - wake up and speak out. u do not stand on the by-lines as rape and pillage is atrociously carried out in your house.
19. afrikaneye | January 27th, 2006 at 6:57 am
@Mental. I’m with you on this one pwana. I think one of the reasons people are calling Githongo a coward it becuase many of us are still hung-up on the martydom era of the ’60s where the main idea was to ’stand up for what you believe in even if that means you will die’. But that was a strategy for the SIXTIES…we are now in the 21st centuty and we need to stand up for what we believe in even if it means we will LIVE. We can’t stay hung up on the martydom joint and keep on re-inventing the wheel. the sixties served their purpose and I continue to salute those who died for us…However, we need to be mindful that their deaths dealt SERIOUS blows to their causes, case in point, how Lumumba’s death ultimately ‘played’ Congo by creating a situation that led to the rise of the crazy tyrant Mobutu. So let’s big up Githongo, this guy stuck his neck out and is alive. We can build on his courage and move on.
20. Wangari | January 27th, 2006 at 11:26 am
i look at it like this.
if i was john githongo and i had this report that would bring down my boss who had the power to get me killed with a click of his hand, would i;
a) shred the report, make up one that made the boss look good and then wander round to Knight Frank for a deal on this house i liked…
b) release the report, stick two fingers up to the boss and accept the repercussions
c) run for my life, then release the report from the comfort of some surbuban house in Oxford
i know my answer. and i cannot damn the man.
21. mook | January 27th, 2006 at 7:16 pm
Probably john Githongo is the man kenyans have been yearning for ever since the murder of Robert Ouko.
I believe that he has pasted the temptetions most of us will ever manage above average. He got the highest score ever offered in the field of politics and so far has survived. If any of you have read The Constant Gardener then you will understand what stakes Mr Githongo is playing
22. Afro | January 27th, 2006 at 8:52 pm
@ mook, i have read the constant gardener, and i concur, politics in Kenya is very very dangerous. (In the author’s notes John le carre indicated that what he had written about was not much compared to what he had heard actually happen) plus we all remember the mysterious deaths of 80’s and 90’s. Such a shame we cant protect our present silent heroes.
23. Adrian | January 31st, 2006 at 12:30 am
i think wangari put it best…
(though i don’t think any of us can imagine how it feels to be githongo right now)
24. Odhis | February 1st, 2006 at 5:13 pm
For those of us who are quick to criticize Githongo please be reminded that some of the Anglo Leasing culprits already owned up to their schemes and tried to pull him as “one of them”… that said I think he’s principled and abides by his duty to Kenyans. Some of us doubt his self imposed exile, well his got a family to think about. Besides that in Kenya, his report would be collecting dust next to the Goldenberg one. Him being in UK enables him to draw attention to the evil that’s eroding Kenya.
25. uteyaynek | February 2nd, 2006 at 4:22 am
Well…if you have read the standard today….it is clear that Keguro was right….GITHONGO had something to hide and thought he could cover up by getting to the post first….the background to his allegations of having asked Perera to put something in writing are now detailed in the Standard….wow he was trying to save his fathee from a debt gone sour and even tried to armtwist the guy he claims was against angloleasing….what a strange twist of fate….the hunter becomes the hunted….well I guess it had to happen soon enough….perhaps this was why he ran away….just proves that you can run but you cant hide…
26. Mang'ea Anton | February 2nd, 2006 at 7:27 am
Much said and done, it is the time to be objective and aim where it hurts…it is a fact that cannot be overemphasised that Kenya is grappling with major corruption scams which have affected many Kenyans who paradoxically are the power bearers. I mean, the suffering Kenyans hold the key to power for our government officers; the primordial power vests with them, if you like ‘the constitutive power of the people’. It therefore out of query that besides all chest thumbing theatrix, besides all sideshows, besides all excuses, something should, must, has to be done. We cannot allow anybody to continue throwing squirrels on our way for us to lose the sight of the antelope, Nay. Kenyans have suffered for long…that is why I applaud Hon. Mwiraria’s decision to step aside to pave way for investigations, cudos man! The truth will set you free, if trully you’re innocent as you’ve insisted. But I know somebody, somewhere is guilty…It would be an astute and courageous manifestation of wisdom and wit if those adversely mentioned or implicated followed suit to pave way for investigation…tears of innocent Kenyans are flowing down their bruised cheeks, for yet a new dawn.
27. Nuke | February 2nd, 2006 at 12:25 pm
If Githongo released the report to a Brit that is ofcourse treason especially for one under oath of secrecy.
If his treasonable act has saved Kenya well and good. He will not be purnished. The thiefs will be punished. The good guys will be happy. Kenya will prosper.
He will remain a traitor.
28. Odhis | February 3rd, 2006 at 8:34 pm
Treason? I didn’t know if releasing a public document amounts to treason. If it was a secret goverment document that would be something else. Secondly he was a public official with the mandate to prosecute the corrupt… if it was not for our way of doing things ie going to the president with everything, the document would available in the public domain way back. Do we really think Goldenberg and Anglo Leasing scams are fibs or an imagination of the media?
29. Odhis | February 3rd, 2006 at 8:47 pm
For the yet-to-wake-up, here’s a link for you… http://www.nairobist.com/angloleasingkenya/githongo_1.htm
30. IV | February 9th, 2006 at 11:20 pm
Treason charges against Githongo? What a pathetic bunch of morons for even suggesting that! The duty of any government official, including the President, is first and foremost to the nation. By exposing Awori, Murangaru, Kiraitu and ilk as the scheming SOB’s that they are, Githongo has done the right thing and served the nation. Frankly, its idiots who suggest that he be charged with treason that freak me out! Are you guys serious, cause your conspiracy theories of him being a British spy are childish and transparent gimmicks intended to divert attention. Your crap is not going to work on anyone, so shut up!
On another note, I think Githongo needs to substantiate all his claims ASAP. I believe what he says anyday over the scumbags who make up our government, but words alone do not convincing an argument make. More proof is needed, and I am sure Githongo has it, he seems like he did his homework well. Ofcourse, we all know that the government is going to say his tapes are fake… but they should do voice tests and compare with the ministers, and I am sure this can be done by an independent third party. As for someone arguing that these scandals never occured? Then why did money get sent back to the Central Bank, and not just 100 bob. We are talking in millions of dollars!
Honestly, this is a really sad time to be a Kenyan. I once had faith in Mwai Kibaki and was overjoyed when he was elected president. Now its just anger at his ineffectiveness and inaction, coupled with the knowledge that the opposition is also a bunch of goons. Uhuru Kenyatta, Bonaya Godana, and countless KANU members of parliament and the previous regime who are now making so much noise about Anglo-Leasing should not try to the take the moral high ground on this issue. The previous regime was just as corrupt, and Kenyans are literally between a rock and a hard place. If it continues like this, I hope some of us consider running for the next Parliament as independent/non-party affiliated members.
31. reality | February 15th, 2006 at 8:46 am
So we nearly all concur!
Githongo for president come 2007! No this is not a suggestion. I think the man is infact obliged to run!
We could probably throw in Caroline Mutoko for VP, (gender sensitivity). The guy who writes business in the Nation that we of economics and finance orientation like to read so much can be the Finmin.
Where to be mp for githongo? I think st marys education would not sit well with places like Embakasi (Dandosh?) or Kasarani (Mathare, huruma) but it would do us who toil and live there (including the muingi ki) some good.
The ability to beat all the other applicants for a top job like CEO of TI would also come in handy for this country.
32. Anton Mang'ea | July 5th, 2006 at 8:45 am
The Armenians saga seems to be heating stomachs of even the big fish. With a public exchange between Muhoho and his Deputy Naomi, this leaves a lot to be desired as to this shameful saga… the best thing for Kenya now is to have the scumbags exposed and brought to book. However, as usuall the question remains whether indeed the findings of the commission to the artu brothers will be implemented if past record is anything to go by.
You may amazed how deep this whole saga goes…
33. Anton Mang'ea | February 21st, 2007 at 3:04 pm
… this is 2007 and yet Githongo and angloleasing stories are still top among Kenyan politics. With the release of the tappings by the corruption czar, matters are made more complicated with even those hitherto thought to be innocent having their role in multibillion scam clearly brought into light. One milestone would be accomplished if the Kibaki administration were to clear the mess into angloleasing; demystify all the myths and half truths into the scandle and bring the culprits into book. If for sure this were to be, no single Kenyan would be shy to vote the current government come 2007.
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