From: Judy Miriga

Folks,

The secret deals of ODM power-men are here for reading. One thing about Luos, in many cases such as serious as this, they never lie. I look forward to get my book of Miguna Miguna to read.

Cheers Everybody…..

Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com

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The secret deals of ODM power men

[Photo|FILE]
Former aide paints the picture of Prime Minister Raila Odinga as a billionaire at the head of a fast-expanding regional empire.

By MURITHI MUTIGA mmutiga@ke.nationmedia.com and TIM WANYONYI twanyonyi@ke.nation media.com
Posted Tuesday, July 10 2012 at 21:24

Prime Minister Raila Odinga is a billionaire with interests spanning several continents and a business portfolio that has grown significantly since he entered the Grand Coalition, according to his former aide.

Mr Miguna Miguna, the PM’s former advisor for coalition affairs, claims in his new book that Mr Odinga has steadily built up his personal wealth over the past five years, cutting deals with regional leaders and some businessmen with questionable backgrounds in fields ranging from mining concessions in the DRC to oil deals in Uganda.

Mr Miguna also asserts in his explosive new memoirs, Peeling Back the Mask:A Quest for Justice in Kenya, that some of Mr Odinga’s closest aides have become enormously wealthy since the PM took office.

“I walked into Raila’s office with Caroli Omondi just before 8am one Wednesday morning in April 2011. There was something important I wanted the three of us to discuss.

“The previous day, I had visited Hon. (Dr) Sally Kosgei in her Ministry of Agriculture office at Kilimo House. What she had disclosed had shocked me.

“Dr Kosgei had informed me that she had heard that Caroli had purchased Heron (Court) Hotel, a three-star facility in Nairobi.

“Her information was that Caroli had purchased the hotel for between Sh800 million to Sh1 billion. Many might ask why I found that shocking. Well, Caroli happened to be Raila’s private secretary.

“Officially, Caroli was the Principal Administration Secretary for the Office of the Prime Minister. His take home pay was less than Sh300,000.

“By April 2009, Caroli had worked for the OPM for exactly two years. Evenif he was saving 90 per cent of his net income – an impossible feat in any society – he would still not have saved Sh800m within two years.” Neither Dr Sally Kosgei nor Mr Omondi could be reached for comment on Tuesday and none responded to text messages sent to their mobile phones.

Mr Omondi is reputed to have been an independently wealthy property owner even before 2007 and housed the Raila Odinga Campaign Headquarters in one of his Upper Hill premises.

Mr Odinga, according to Mr Miguna, took a relaxed attitude to queries about the alleged financial impropriety by officials within his office.

Writes Miguna: “Jakom, hear what Miguna is saying=85that people are saying that I bought Heron Court,” Caroli started as soon as we sat down around a small coffee table.

“He was laughing. He didn’t wait for me to introduce the subject. I also noticed the casual and joking manner Caroli was approaching the issue, which I found unnerving.

“‘Hmmm – hmmm – – hmmm, is that so?” (Mr Odinga said) “Miguna, what’s wrong if Caroli bought Heron Court, hmm? What’s wrong with that? “What’s wrong with Luos? Why are they talking too much, hmm? Who told them not to make money?’ Raila dismissed me even before I could open my mouth.”

The deals Mr Miguna describes run the gamut from oil money to mineral concessions in southern Africa to others involving a subsidised maize scheme which was subsequently found to have been abused by officials, costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of shillings.

Mr Miguna links Mr Odinga to controversial South African tycoon Ant=F2nio Texeira, the chairman of Petroplus Africa, who is associated with the Branch Energy and Executive Outcomes private security-cum-paramilitary firms that have been criticised for their work in war zones such as the diamond fields of Sierra Leone.

Mr Texeira has interests in gold, oil and diamonds in Africa, Europe and the Middle East. He says Mr Texeira was introduced to Mr Odinga by his former PA, Herbert Ojwang’.

Those contacts, which Mr Odinga acquired while he was minister for Energy, subsequently helped Mr Texeira buy the controlling stake in one of the Odingas flagship firms, Spectre International.

“Then of course, are Raila’s (and through him, Caroli’s) “connections” to Rupiah Banda, President of Zambia from 2008 to 2011. Caroli frequently boasted to me of their grandiose investments in the copper fields of Zambia.

“So thick were the connections that Raila sent Orengo and someone else to Zambia on the day Zambians voted in the September 2011 presidential elections.”

Mr Miguna was a senior aide in Mr Odinga’s office until he was suspended by the PM in August. His new memoirs offer insights into the behind-the-scenes intrigues at the highest levels of the coalition government.

But some have questioned Mr Miguna’s motives for writing the book. Mr Odinga’s spokesman, Dennis Onyango, said the PM will issue a comprehensive rejoinder to the book later in the week.

Some of the issues examined by Mr Miguna are the question of the methods used by politicians to raise fundsfor their campaigns and some of the deals they strike once they get into office.

Mr Miguna tells of an alleged deal between Mr Odinga and Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni, two men who have uneasy ties but, if Mr Miguna is to be believed, have shared business interests.

“On another occasion, Caroli talked to me =96 and I also heard him speaking on the telephone =96 about an oil deal involving Raila, Museveni and some “powerful men around Museveni”.

Some of my Kenyan readers might recall that Raila made a sudden trip to Uganda and met Museveni at State House, Entebbe, around mid-2009.

The agenda of the visit wasn’t publicly disclosed. During that visit Raila and Museveni purportedly agreed to work together in order to process and sell the oil currently being produced from Lake Albert in Uganda.

Initially, Museveni was keen to construct a brand new refinery in Uganda to handle the production but Caroli informed me that Raila had managed to convince Museveni that it would be ‘cheaper and more profitable to do it in Mombasa’.

Now obviously many people would say that Raila was only doing this for the economic good of Kenya. That’s possible. Why, for example, was the Ministry of Energy not involved in the discussions? Why was Caroli — Raila’s Private Secretary — deeply involved in the discussions?”

Mr Miguna also claims that another international businessman, Lee Jang-Soonof South Korea, “invested heavily” in Mr Odinga in the 2002 and 2007 elections.

Mr Miguna claims that it is Mr Texeira who gave Mr Odinga thedistinctive black helicopter, together with its pilot and mechanical crew in the 2002 election campaigns.

Conflict of interest

He claimed that Mr Odinga’s business ties with Mr Texeira presented a serious conflict of interest because after the 2002 election, he became Energy minister and was friends with a businessman who wanted to invest in the sector.

Mr Texeira’s A1 Grand Prix series company, he claims, collapsed as a result of his heavy investment in Mr Odinga. The A1 Grand Prix Series was founded by Sheikh Maktoum Hasher Maktoum of Dubai to rival the Formula 1 Series.

But it collapsed after only a few seasons after the billionaire sheikh sold out to a group led by Mr Texeira. The South Korean contributed money to MrOdinga’s campaign in 2007, Mr Miguna claims, but the funds did not reachthe campaign and were pocketed by an aide.

Mr Miguna writes that Mr Odinga was introduced to Mr Texeira by another businessman, Tanzanian Ali Ahmed Said of Tanganyika Investment and Oil transport company.

It was Mr Said, he says, who organised the shipment of maize from South Africa to Kenya some of which was subsequently found to be bad.

The Kenya Bureau of Standards, which inspected the maize, declared it unfit for human consumption and wanted it returned to South Africa but the importers resisted this decision.

Mr Miguna also claims that Mr Omondi and OPM permanent secretary, Dr Mohammed Isahakia, who were suspended to pave wayfor investigations into the maize scandal, were never really on suspension.

The two were cleared and reinstated. Dr Isahakia was unavailable for comment. But while on suspension, claims Miguna, they were allowed unlimited access to their offices almost every day and were paid full salaries.

Then Agriculture minister William Ruto, who was accused of issuing the allotment letters to his friends and political associates, survived a censure motion in Parliament over the scandal.

Mr Ruto, who has since left ODM after falling out with Mr Odinga, maintained then that the genesis of the scandal was in the PM’s office.

Rwanda: TV Documentary Links Kenya to Kabuga
By Edwin Musoni, 10 July 2012

A documentary aired by Nation TV, a Kenyan television network, has linked unidentified officials within the government security circles to one Africa’s most wanted fugitives, Felicien Kabuga.

According to the seven-month investigation, the Genocide fugitive has for the last 14 years been under protection of the top security officials in the Kenyan government.

According to the documentary, available evidence shows that the fugitive businessman, whom the United States has always insisted was harboured by Kenya, has businesses registered in Kenya and even at one time was given protection as a captain in the Kenyan army and a high security value asylum seeker.

The documentary also uncovered shocking new details about the mysterious death of Michael Munuhe, an informer whose body was found in Nairobi suburb of Karen in on January 13, 2003.

In the documentary, the deceased’s brother, Josephat Mureithi Gichuki, is convinced that Munuhe was murdered because he was about to reveal Kabuga’s whereabouts to the US security agency, FBI.

In a similar development, Michael Sarunei, a Kenyan soldier who is alleged to have been in charge of Kabuga’s security has gone missing and according to a story published in Nation newspaper, it is suspected that he was murdered.

The NTV documentary, by John-Allan Namu, an investigative journalist details out how several people who tried to close in ono Kabuga have either disappeared or been murdered.

During his investigations, Namu discovered thatKabuga, who is diabetic, is currently trying to sell off his business so that he can fly out of the country for treatment.

NTV’s investigations led it to some of Kabuga’s intermediaries. Oneof NTV’s operatives was to be picked from Nyali Golf Club in Mombasa by silver Toyota Harrier with a Tanzanian licence plate to meet two men who are from Rwanda.

They were to be taken to a house that Kabuga allegedly stayed in while in Mombasa. NTV was not able to continue with its quest to meet Kabuga as the deal was terminated for fear that it was becoming very risky for the journalist.

As it was revealed, NTV’s contact said in a text message to the journalist that Kenyan intelligence agency had gotten wind of the impending investigative documentary.

Rwanda: Bagosora, Three Others to Serve Sentences in Mali
By Edwin Musoni, 5 July 2012

United Nations

Rwandan children, refugees of the 1994 genocide.

THE man widely regarded as the architect of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, Th=E9oneste Bagosora, has been sent to Mali to serve his sentence, court sources said yesterday.

He was transferred to the conflict ridden country together with three other high profile convicts, namely; Yusuf Munyakazi, who was a businessman and commercial farmer in the former Cyangugu pr=E9fecture, Tharcise Renzaho, former Prefect of Kigali City, and Dominique Ntawukulilyayo, former Sub-Prefect of Gisagara, Butare.

Bagosora, a former director of Cabinet in the Ministry of Defence, was given 35 years last December, following his appeal against a life sentence handed to him by the ICTR lower chamber.

Ruled to have been de facto army chief in the first days of the Genocide, Bagosora was initially sentenced to life imprisonment in December 2008 on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Earlier, before the transfer of the convicts, Rwanda bid to host them but the final decision solely remained in the hands of the Tribunal’s president.

So far, Mali and Benin have been the preferred destination of the ICTR convicts; however, the UN tribunal’s soft spot for Bamako has raised concerns over the recent military coup and the Tuareg rebellion that has split the West African nation into two.

There is concern the deteriorating security situation in Mali might provide an opportunity for the convicts to escape, even as ICTR officials insist the Koulikoro prison, situated just outside Bamako, is secure.

Despite the concerns, Rwanda seems not to be bothered by the Tribunal’s decision.

According to the Minister of Justice, Tharcisse Karugarama, Rwanda is not responsible for what is happening in Mali and so is to the security of the prisoners.

“We signed a convention with the ICTR to have convicts transferred to Rwanda but so far not a single one has been brought here. If these convicts are sent here, we would strictly keep in the provisions of the laws and agreements,” said Karugarama.

Rwanda has expressed readiness to take in the convicts and the country currently hosts Sierra Leonean war crimes convict by the UN special court.

According to Karugarama, although Rwanda is able to host international prisoners, the country is not desperate to have the convicts transferred to Rwanda.

“We are not dying or pushing to have these prisoners brought here but I believe it is good for the prisoners to serve their sentences in Rwanda since they would be visited by members of their families and also have a true moment of reflection and reconciliation with their conscience,” he said.

The transfer of the four convicts to Mali brings to 20 the number of individuals who have served or are serving their sentences in that country.

All ICTR detainees who have completed their appeals procedure must be transferred to another country, under the terms of an agreement between the UN and Tanzania, which hosts the Tribunal.

Before executing the Mali transfer, the Tribunal had also sent Aloys Ntabakuze, Ildephonse Hategekimana, Gaspard Kanyarukiga and Callixte Kalimanzira to Benin to serve their sentences there.

Earlier in the year, on March 20, three other convicts, Simeon Nchamihigo, Ephrem Setako and Simon Bikindiwere transferred to serve their sentences in Benin.

Samuel Imanishimwe who was serving his 12 year sentence in Mali, was recently released upon completion of his sentence. Juv=E9nal Rugambarara, serving his 11 year sentence in Benin, was on February 8, 2012 released upon serving three-fourths of his sentence. The two are yet to find countries that would take them in.

Jean Bosco Barayagwiza and Georges Rutuganda, who where serving a 32 year sentence and life sentence, respectively, died on 25 April 2010 and 11 October 2010 respectively in Benin.

Fourteen convicts are currently serving their sentences in Benin.

— On Tue, 7/10/12, Kuria-Mwangi wrote:

From: Kuria-Mwangi
Subject: The secret deals of ODM power men
Date: Tuesday, July 10, 2012, 4:19 PM

Hii Kijana ina maliza Jakom. Someni kwa makini:

Some highlights

-Prime Minister Raila Odinga is a billionaire with interests spanning several continents and a business portfolio that has grown significantly since he entered the Grand Coalition, according to his former aide.

-Mr Miguna also asserts in his explosive new memoirs, Peeling Back the Mask: A Quest for Justice in Kenya, that some of Mr Odinga’s closest aides have become enormously wealthy since the PM took office.

-Mr Miguna links Mr Odinga to controversial South African tycoon Ant=F2nio Texeira, the chairman of Petroplus Africa, who is associated with the Branch Energy and Executive Outcomes private security-cum-paramilitary firms that have been criticised for their work in war zones such as the diamond fields of Sierra Leone.

– Mr Miguna claims that it is Mr Texeira who gave Mr Odinga the distinctive black helicopter, together with its pilot and mechanical crew in the 2002 election campaigns.

-He claimed that Mr Odinga’s business ties with MrTexeira presented a serious conflict of interest because after the 2002 election, he became Energy minister and was friends with a businessman who wanted to invest in the sector.

-Then of course, are Raila’s (and through him, Caroli’s) “connections” to Rupiah Banda, President of Zambia from 2008 to 2011. Caroli frequently boasted to me of their grandiose investments in the copper fields of Zambia.

-Now obviously many people would say that Raila was only doing this for the economic good of Kenya. That’s possible. Why, for example, was the Ministry of Energy not involved in the discussions? Why was Caroli – – Raila’s Private Secretary – – deeply involved in the discussions?”

-The South Korean contributed money to Mr Odinga’s campaign in 2007, Mr Miguna claims, but the funds did not reach the campaign and were pocketed byan aide.
–

Mr Miguna also claims that Mr Omondi and OPM permanent secretary, Dr Mohammed Isahakia, who were suspended to pave way for investigations into the maize scandal, were never really on suspension.

The two were cleared and reinstated. Dr Isahakia was unavailable for comment. But while on suspension, claims Miguna, they were allowed unlimited access to their offices almost every day and were paid full salaries
–

Mr Miguna writes that Mr Odinga was introduced to Mr Texeira by another businessman, Tanzanian Ali Ahmed Said of Tanganyika Investment and Oil transport company.

It was Mr Said, he says, who organised the shipment of maize from South Africa to Kenya some of which was subsequently found to be bad.
–

Then Agriculture minister William Ruto, who was accused of issuing the allotment letters to his friends and political associates, survived a censure motion in Parliament over the scandal.

Mr Ruto, who has since left ODM after falling out with Mr Odinga, maintained then that the genesis of the scandal was in the PM’s office.

—
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