1. SACRED COWS IN KENYA’S
GRAFT WAR
Recently President Uhuru Kenyatta wrote a newspaper article stating how
the late founder Prime Minister of Singapore is his role model. He wrote
this article about the legendary PM Lee Kuan Yew during the time he was
cracking the whip on corruption in Kenya. Although there are certain
things in his character which obviously cannot be reconciled with parallels
in Premier Lee’s character, it was inspiring that he aspired to attain such
high standards as set out by the late Singaporean leader.
Personally I commended his crackdown because I believed that was the
way to go if Kenya was to regain sanity in the way state affairs are run. A
number of people, especially the opposition, dismissed his effort as
window dressing. But I considered the opposition criticism to be largely
premature and just a case of sour grapes. However I have been compelled
to review my position due to happenings around one man, Mr. Isaack
Hassan, the electoral body IEBC chairman.
It has been reported severally that Isaack Hassan is under investigation for
corruption. The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, EACC, have
admitted to investigating him. This is as it should be, because his
commission IEBC has been riddled with corruption allegations and this
has made five of its top managers, including CEO James Oswago, quit
office with cases ongoing in court. On top of this IEBC was mentioned
again in a serious corruption case involving Smith and Ouzman Co. of
England, where two senior directors were jailed, for giving bribes to
Kenya’s IEBC under Isaack Hassan. Hassan cannot claim that all this
bribery was taking place without his knowledge right in his office,
especially after the British court and investigators came out with damning
evidence against them.

2. President Uhuru Kenyatta had taken a bold step, ordering all those 175
officers tainted with graft allegation to step aside. But in his list of 175
suspects he left out Isaack Hassan, although it was known he was already
under investigations by the EACC. Neither has Isaack stepped aside to
allow for proper investigations to take place. He still sits on the files he is
expected to release for inspection.
For quite sometime now Isaack has carried himself with decency even
though claims have been flying all over about his integrity, until recently
when he surprised all and sundry with his sycophant outbursts. It is well
known in Kenya that if you want to be heard by the government, you
castigate the opposition. Maybe you want some real money, tenders or
lucrative deals. You just angle for an opportunity to hit hard at Raila or the
entire Odinga family as being a danger to society, or even humanity, and
the favours would come rolling down your way. It reached a critical peak
during the Jomo and Moi heydays, but took a nosedive during the reign of
Mwai Kibaki as he was too busy sitting laid-back to bother with people
demonising others for material gain.
It is therefore not surprising that Hassan, in his great hour of need, has
decided to turn lyrically sycophant. So recently when opposition leader
Raila Odinga stated that the opposition would boycott the election if IEBC
reforms are not made, Hassan got highly elated. He invited Raila to go
right ahead and boycott the polls, and that he was most welcome to do so.
That was an election umpire talking to one of his contestants. Raila’s party
ODM has the majority MP both in parliament and senate, compared to
other single parties of the coalitions. Now if Raila makes good his threat
and boycotts the polls, what impact would that have on Kenya’s politics,

3. democracy, parliament and even image internationally? How would that
help the wider interests of society and the nation?
But we have to understand. Isaack Hassan is in a fix, being investigated for
corruption which entails jail term. Working so “hard” at IEBC and ending
up a jailbird is not his cup of tea. So he must play ball with the authorities.
Already he has been done a favour being investigated while in office. That
is not enough. The case needs to be thrown out altogether, as he makes it
clear to Uhuru that he can still be useful to him, that Raila is bad, that
Kalonzo is confused, Wetangula is misguided and they are all headed
nowhere. So his outburst is very educated calculated sycophancy.
This takes us back to Uhuru Kenyatta and his seriousness about fighting
graft. At least, why compare yourself with such iconic figures like Lee
Kuan Yew? Why not be a bit localized and compare yourself at least to
Yoweri Museveni or Mayardit? As I once stated, Hassan would really
determine whether Uhuru Kenyatta is really up to the graft fight. At least
Museveni and Mayardit do not pretend, or have vague, spurious illusions
about fighting a crusade they do not believe in. But people do change as do
generations. The way Uhuru admired Premier Lee implied a lot. The way
he handles Hassan and other sacred cows and goats will surely bear him
out. He is one lucky man who has got his destiny on his own hands.
Isaack Hassan on the other hand is being outdated or in Kenyan parlance,
analogue. Calling people’s bluff when you know integrity issues, national
interest and sense of patriotism are at stake is reckless and clueless, to say
the least. In the last elections Hassan refused to announce poll results on
oath, as the people demanded a solemn, judicial undertaking on a sticky
state matter. And he expected people to take him seriously being unable to
act on oath. Devoid of all credibility, he has the audacity to desire to run

4. another election under similar circumstances. He believes that Uhuru
would make an encore, so Uhuru becomes like his God, not just one of the
contestants. Although the buck stops with the boss, he knows Uhuru can
over-rule all those nasty tales transpiring from the IEBC scams.
If we cannot even respect our institutions, why do we crave respect for
ourselves? In cracking the whip on corruption, Uhuru Kenyatta seeks to
restore Kenya’s honour amongst the civilized nations. People like Isaack
Hassan should make it easy for him to actualize his dreams. For once
Uhuru is being articulate and it should be made to stick. Hassan is still
young and can do a lot other things. Even if you assisted somebody to
resolve a puzzle, it is not for you to demand the impossible out of them.
Being good at rigging does not mean only you can do the trick. Uhuru is
spoilt for choice when it comes to getting adept riggers. Hassan should
know that for him the game is over and peacefully quit.
By:
FREDERICK OWINO OYARO
Email: frederickoyaro@gmail.com