from ouko joachim omoloColleagues Home & Abroad Regional News
BY FR JOACHIM OMOLO OUKO, AJ
NAIROBI-KENYA
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2011
When US President Barack Obama warned the government of Mwai Kibaki not to give besieged Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi access to money generated by Libya’s investments in the country his government vowed never to succumb to US pressure, instead accusing Western powers of using “violence against civilians” in Libya, announcing no measures to freeze Libyan assets in Kenya.
Kenya came under immense pressure from the US since April to shut down the Libyan embassy in Nairobi and seize the assets to fulfil UN Security Council resolutions 1970 and 1973 but has so far resisted.
The argument of course was not because the government of Kibaki would not succumb to US pressure because it did not want to be told by Western powers how to govern the country but because of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) president Mwai Kibaki and Gaddafi signed in June 2007 when he visited Libya.
The MoU guaranteed a Libya stake in the upgrade of the Kenya Pipeline, a 50 per cent holding in the Kenya Petroleum Refineries and ventures in information technology and the hospitality industry in Mombasa, Nairobi and Eldoret.
Other assets included the multi-million former Grand Regency Hotel, which Kenya controversially sold to Gaddafi and was immediately renamed Laico Regency Hotel, and OilLibya, one of Kenya’s leading oil marketing chains bought from Mobil in 2007.
Grand Regency is a public asset, seized from Kamlesh Pattni who built it using Goldenberg corruption proceeds. Former Attorney General, Amos Wako declared not knowing anything about the deal or whether Kamlesh Pattni received amnesty through this sweet deal to the Libyans.
Reports also indicate that there are some growing military links between the two nations and that the Libya and Sudanese governments funded some parties at recent by-elections and financed anti-ICC conferences in Nairobi in January and also coordinated the defense of Kenya’s ICC suspects at The Hague.
It is against the background that Imenti Central MP Gitobu Imanyara wanted an inquiry of “PNU bigwigs” involved in the signing of memorandum of understanding on June 6 2007 when President Kibaki led an Kenyan entourage to Gaddafi’s hometown in Sirte leading to the controversial sale of Grand Regency Hotel to Libya’s Laico Company.
Since the money funded him and PNU’s campaigns and had nothing to do with the Kenyan people is one of the reasons Kibaki was to hand over the hotel to Libya as soon as he sworn in for a second term in office.
The signing of lucrative deals that led to among other ventures the sale of Mobil Kenya to Libya’s Tamoil for Sh13 billion and it was renamed Oilibya, Grand Regency for Sh 2.9 billion was to kick off immediately but because that didn’t happen because Kibaki topped up his votes and this triggered the post-election violence was why Kibaki and his team were to meet him in Kampala.
Under pressure from Gaddafi Kibaki was forced to hold bilateral consultation in Kampala, Uganda to review the status and progress of the implementation of the agreed framework of co-operation between the two countries which was signed in Sirte during President Kibaki’s visit to Libya mid last year.
During that visit a number of bilateral agreements were signed including cooperation in the oil and petroleum sector, civil aviation and the establishment of a permanent joint commission of cooperation, including the extension of the oil pipeline from Eldoret to Kampala.
Present were the host President Yoweri Museveni, Muammar Gaddafi of Libya, Paul Kagame of Rwanda, Pierre Nkurunziza of Burundi, Abdullahi Yusuf of Somalia and Ministers Moses Wetangula, Yusuf Haji and Permanent secretary Thuita Mwangi.
It is against the background that Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka expressed opposition to the attacks against Gaddafi by Western countries. Libya was one of the countries the VP visited in the first round of the shuttle diplomacy that secured the backing of the African Union in Kenya’s bid to defer the cases against the Ocampo Six at the International Criminal Court.
Obama wanted Kenya to freeze all of Gaddafi’s assets and those of the Central Bank of Libya, as directed by the United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1970 and 1973. The UN resolution was itself inspired by fear that money generated from Gaddafi’s assets in Kenya could be siphoned to the embattled leader in Libya to buttress his onslaught on civilians and ward off armed resistance to his rule, as well as pay for scaremongering tactics against Western forces that have been bombarding his weakened regime for weeks.
It is very significant that where rebel fighters killed Gadhafi on Oct. 20 is outside the town of Sirte where MoU between Kibaki and Gaddafi was signed. Gaddafi’s body was brought back to Misurata, where it was filmed being dragged through the streets.
While his death could be symbolically important for the rebels and the fall of Sirte where MoU was signed, the National Transitional Council (NTC) which can now move to form a transitional government easily, the argument whether Kibaki government will continue with the new regime, the big challenge NTC is facing is the fact that with so many armed groups operating in Tripoli and elsewhere in Libya, a peaceful resolution to the question of who should take power is going to be a tag of war.
The main groupings coming from Benghazi, Misurata, Zentan and Tripoli and other smaller militias which will want to ensure they are represented in the new Libya. Armed militias from towns like Misrata, Zentan, Tripoli and other areas have questioned the NTC authority.
NTC cannot form the government without Misrata in particular, given the fact that the group today is in a modern prosperous city and is known to be the richest city in Libya income wise, with light industries (carpets, dairy products and textiles among many others) and heavy industries (iron and steel industrial complex). As such the city has a great potential for expansion since it attracts a lot of internal immigration and is surrounded by uninhabited flat land with no obstacles.
Following the initial stages of the uprising, the Libyan government took back most towns in the west of the country, leaving Misrata the only major city under rebel control in Tripoli, aside from several locations in the Nafusa Mountains.
The city soon became the site of one of the major and most symbolic battles of the war that has been often compared to the Battle of Stalingrad during the World War II. During the siege, the city saw intense fighting and came under daily assaults and shelling. At least 400 people have been killed in the city during the siege, according to doctors, and more than 1,000 are presumed dead.
Many in Misurata are now backing a native son for the post of prime minister: Abdul Rahman al-Swehli, a British-trained engineer from a prominent local family. But whether the NTC authority will accept is another question.
Letter to the Editor
CAUSES OF CONTEMPORARY CRISIS IN AFRICA
Most informed people today know that the African continent is in a crisis, a deep and serious crisis. According to some experts this crisis has already passed the alarming state and reached a fatal stage. The most burning problems in Africa include: Social and Cultural issues, political issue e.g Kenya, Economic issues, Judicial, religious issues and others like Aids, epidemics, abuse etc.
To many writers in Africa like Fr. Joachim Omollo, A.J, poverty and bad governance are the most pressing problems on the continent, at the heart of the other pressing problems. Poverty has many manifestations and consequences like dehumanization and because of Africans’ poverty, black people are treated with prejudice and this in turn causes an inferiority complex amongst Africans, which is bad for self-esteem, material and intellectual development. The result is that black people tend to copy the culture and style of the West, especially America’s materialistic and superficial coca-cola culture. This attitude has rendered African almost useless. Let’s think about our situation at hand.
By Chrispine Onyango,
Nairobi, Kenya
People for Peace in Africa (PPA)
P O Box 14877
Nairobi
00800, Westlands
Kenya
Tel +254-7350-14559/+254-722-623-578
E-mail- ppa@africaonline.co.ke
omolo.ouko@gmail.com
Website: www.peopleforpeaceafrica.org