Kenyan maize scandal causes ODM rift

Before it was the agriculture minister, William Ruto, today it is Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s name that has been sucked into the controversy over a KSh3.6 billion maize scam, with a parliamentary committee recommending that his son and associates (including his personal assistant) be investigated over the deal. Tomorrow we don’t know who it will be.

This revelation reminds me of the politics played by former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan with his son Kojo in 2005. Annan was put to task to resign. He only survived when he said his son Kojo was an adult and himself responsible for what he was doing.

Kojo admitted he did play a role in a scandalised oil-for-food programme with Iraq, a move that prompted a call for his testimony before the US Congress. Kojo Annan was involved in negotiations to sell millions of barrels of Iraqi oil under the auspices of Saddam Hussein.

According to The Times in London, Kojo was connected to Hani Yamani, the son of Sheikh Yamani, the wealthy former Saudi oil minister who set up the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) that came under scrutiny.

Yamani lined up a deal four years ago to sell some US$60 million in Iraqi oil to a Moroccan company, and Kojo is alleged to have travelled to Morocco to help seal the deal. Now that it has become very clear that it was Raila’s son Fidel who was involved in the scam, the big question is whether the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party is going to apologise to Ruto for pressurising him to step aside as agriculture minister.

Some senior ODM officials had alleged that Ruto was to blame for the maize scam. This is why at the height of the censure motion in parliament the ODM was said to be behind these allegations owing to the bad blood between Ruto and Prime Minister Raila Odinga. It explains why Ruto had to do nothing but seek an alliance with Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, a move he later denied after Raila had visited the Rift Valley for consultations over the issue.

According to media reports some ODM ministers had advised Ruto to quit the cabinet to allow for investigations into the maize scandal, on the promise that he would be reinstated once he had been cleared of any wrongdoing.

Lands Minister James Orengo and Finance Assistant Minister Oburu Oginga were among the senior ODM officials putting pressure on Ruto to resign, unaware that Oburu’s son had been also mentioned in a similar scandal.

Aware that he was entirely clean in the matter, Ruto humiliated the senior ODM officials in a fight that saw him victorious. It was alleged that Ikolomani MP Bonny Khalwale, who moved the motion of 'no confidence' on Ruto, was bought by senior ODM officials. During the censure key ODM leaders failed to turn up to the house at the crucial hour that Ruto needed their support. Among the leaders who failed to turn up included the party chairman and Industrialisation Minister Henry Kosgey and Raila himself, the ODM's leader.

Others included the party's secretary general and medical services minister Anyang’ Nyong’o and the party's deputy leader, Deputy Prime Minister and Local Government Minister Musalia Mudavadi, along with coalition Chief Whip Jakoyo Midiwo as well as ODM MPs from Nyanza Province.

Those who stepped up the pressure on Ruto to resign included former Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister Martha Karua and Finance Assistant Minister Oburu Oginga.

It is against this background that some political analysts have argued that Ruto’s problem over the maize issue was not of his own making but a calculated move by enemies of the ODM to bring about a rift in the party.

Ruto’s problem with the party began last year when a group of ODM MPs asked him to stop criticising Prime Minister Raila Odinga after he said he would lead the party’s supporters in Rift Valley to decamp from the party.

Ruto had vowed in one of the rallies that he would lead ODM supporters from the Rift Valley in ditching the party if their interests were not safeguarded. This was the first time since the December 2007 elections that he had publicly criticised Raila for failing to defend the interests of the Kalenjin community.

Apart from forming an alliance with Uhuru, Ruto was contemplating leading his Rift Valley MPs to split from the ODM in order to join the United Democratic Movement (UDM), a party that some ODM MPs from the region fielded candidates for in Ainamoi, Bomet and Sotik. Ruto is one of the UDM founders.

Ruto was not pleased with Raila and the manner in which the he was handling the Waki Report and the planned eviction of families from the Mau forest water catchment. Ruto was quoted by the press to have said, 'No one invited us to join ODM and when we feel deemed to leave we shall do so by our choice without having to seek anyone’s permission.'

Although Raila visited the Rift Valley for the second time in a week to renegotiate a reunion and stability within the party, the war is not yet over. Part of his visit came against rumours of an alliance between Ruto and Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta.

* Joachim Omolo Ouko is a priest who works with People for Peace in Africa (PPA).
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