Noam Chomsky, "The Loneliness of Noam Chomsky" as written by Arundhati Roy, The Hindu, August 24, 2003 http://www.chomsky.info/onchomsky/20030824.htm. Governments are the same all over the world, ours no exception - BUT "Thinking Kenya" will continue haunt them. So many strange things are going on today one cannot help but wonder who will cure 3NS ("Nitatoka Na Nini Syndrome") that infects our "leaders". If you recall, I referred to Chomsky's Neoliberalism tribulations at http://www.chomsky.info/onchomsky/19990401.htm Local architects have got the media right where they wanted them - barricading themselves in fighting off storming, "cross-media" break-ups, Media "Regulation". Researchers dare not give "misleading" statistics to the "fighting for survival" besides "properly owned" media! Lucy, you ask of me a very difficult thing-"go to war without FOIA weapon" and I ask "Who will volunteer this just instrument to the good, hard working people?" Majority of these people hitherto struggled "to make ends meet", now I am not sure if they are clinging to the only end they've been holding on to. Their assets are being seized through the back doors. Turn to well paid KACA! NOP! I have my performance contact with my little biashara I have no time to give grounds for justification for the next pay rise of their Boss. "Who does Alex think he is?" influence peddlers ask on the corridors of the-powers-that-be. "We just wait for him to make one false move then fix him." they vow. (Perhaps it's only because professionalism has permeated many ranks otherwise, disappearing acts would be the order of the day.) So you see Lucy, I have to think about your question a little more before I respond. Right now, "Ask not what your country can do for you. Do it yourself," http://members.aye.net/~hippie/hippie/special_.htm 1."Access to computers should be unlimited and total." 2 "All information should be free." 3."Mistrust authority - promote decentralization." 4."You can create art and beauty on a computer." 5."Computers can change your life for the better." Thus meanwhile, I just sit back and use my computer and this incredibly powerful, enabling Internet technology! It's all I got ;-) Regards, Alex --- Lucy Kimani <[email protected]> wrote:
Mike,
One would hope that our hard-working team at the Ministry dont get mired in the Econet charade, and will do their homework to make sure that Kenyan Farmers dont get short-changed like the Nigerians, although they did learn their lesson and took corrective measures thereafter.
Alex, fancy taking up the role of the "people's watchdog" since the media has clearly been compromised on this one! CNN has Anderson Cooper keeping the Government honest, so I hope you can step in!
LK
One cannot envy the PS for he is in a difficult situation trying to extricate the government from a situation which would never have occurred had those responsible (long before the tender concluded) abided by the law and struck out the litigant based on publicly and widely available information during the pre-qualification stage of the tender. Even though some might disagree, two wrongs do not make a right, and history no matter how long it takes to get there will be the judge of this government's actions. As was the case, while the Government was fighting the litigant in Kenyan courts, a different arm of the Government was bizarrely engaged in a PR campaign on behalf of the litigant in a foreign country! Was the litigation in Kenya a mere public relations exercise to show Kenyans that the government tried to do something so that Kenyans could mistakenly conclude that atleast the government 'fought tooth and nail' ?
The government cannot claim to know it did not know what kind of 'animal' it was dealing with when it allowed the litigant to get past pre-qualification while international telecom giants with more experience, cash and expertise in African countries were knocked out. A long time back in 2001, some of Kenya's best and brightest technocrats investigating the litigant's attempt to purchase Telkom Kenya went on a due diligence expedition (something the regulator should have undertaken). The delegation included: Mwaghazi Mwachofi (Treasury PS), Francis Muthaura, Esther Koimet (Investment Secretary), Augustine Cheserem (TKL), Dan Ameyo (AG Chambers), Mr Davis Chirchir (TKL). This delegation compiled a report which should be made available to the public and which explains in part the litigant's current attempts to obtain the licence without paying in full for it (part of its modus operandi). Per the Daily Nation, Business Week of November 27, 2001 some of Kenya's brightest minds found that:
-------------------- Although this, on the face of it, would appear to be a moot point, the undercurrent would appear to be a suspicion that the South African company's plan was to borrow funds from the financial market using Telkom Kenya's existing balance sheet.
In the team's view, this was an inequitable arrangement, the argument being that the South Africans wanted to reap where they did not sow.
According to informed sources, the final conclusion of the report was even more controversial.
"These people have categorically stated in their report that the government should not have pre-qualified the Mount Kenya Consortium in the first place," a key insider confided to BusinessWeek. -----------------------
If one walks into a bank and fraudulently obtains a Ksh 10 million loan, they are liable to possible prosecution for the illegal procurement of the loan through fraud, misrepresentation and false pretences. The bank can recall the loan, and it can also seize the individual's collateral in addition to pursuing civil and criminal actions against the individual. The cases against the government were cases to be won by the Government and not the litigant, vast information proving misrepresentation at the pre-qualification stage, collaboration in planning the tender and throughout the course of the tender is in the public domain. All the Government needed to do is provide proof of these actions (of which there is plenty including through KACC investigations). Just one instance indicates that the tender committee moved the technical evaluation date of the tender such that the ITU (International Telecommunications Union) representative and observer, Mr. Ricardo Passerini, who was to be an observer was not present to observe the process. Unlike Kenya, the Morocco tender which raised over $1bn+ fully engaged the ITU in its tendering process and is held up as an example of successful and transparent tender. Can the same be said of the Kenyan tender?
The second case against the Minister was also winnable. Parliamentary privilege protected what he said. Secondly what he said was perfectly true and provable in any court through thousands of documents and through obtainable testimony by the litigant's own insiders and former employees.
Perhaps the Attorney General's qualified opinion on these matters which was presumably obtained should be made public or discussed in parliament or released by the PS for the air to be cleared once and for all so that Kenyans can understand how these cases could have been lost in the face of overwhelming evidence, certified financial audits of the litigants demonstrating they did not meet the tender requirements amongst several other defence mechanisms the government could have utilised and obtained to win its cases.
Incase there is any lingering doubt about the existence of a modus operandi by the "seasoned and very experienced" litigant one only needs to look at the similarities between the KNFC situation (abandoning agreements) and the Altech partnership situation:
------------------- The CEO of Altech, Mr Craig Venter, says over the past three months Altech has exhausted every avenue possible to find an amicable solution
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