The New Ali Baba’s
A couple of years ago, I did a post on who were the richest thieves politicians in Kenya. I had an anecdotal list of people and I tried to guess what their NTE’s (i.e. Net thievery expenditures) were. It was a list I just made up since obviously, I had no hard core evidence.
Anyway, I was cleaning up my blog’s spam and I noticed that someone identifying themselves as “annonymous” had come in and left the following comment, which I found interesting. The comment follows:
Moi is worth $12 billion, he bought $2billion worth of propertes in Germany in 1989, when the Berlin Wall fell, only the 3 hotels in London are worth over $1billion, Phillip Moi owns the Hyatt in Portman Square, London, formerly the Churchill Hotel, it has 1000 rooms, and per room it is worth at least £500,000, this is where the Goldenberg money went.
Moi has trading screens at his house in Kabarak, where hundreds of millions of dollars of currency and commodity trades are done on a daily basis, Merali helped him set it up. Merali is worth at least $100million. Somaia worth minus, it was all Moi’s money. Pattni is also worth nothing, it was all Phillip Moi’s money, Grand Regency was his commision for stealing nearly $1.5billion, and even that was taken away from him, he was a “houseboy” for Phillip, I know him quite well. Biwott is worth more than $1.5billion, and Kenyatta Family the same. Kibaki is probably around $400-500million. I know all this because I was close to Moi’s son, thankfully I refused to do business the way he wanted me to, I have enough of my own money and dignity, without having to resort to stealing or acting as someone’s briefcase carrier, that is where family dignity comes in. I have not come back to Kenya, due to the corrupt practices, although I was born there and love the country and people.
I don’t know who this anonymous poster is, but I’d like them to come back and leave more comments on this post because this is a topic that many people are curious about.
Now that mega corruption scandals are once again sweeping through the country, I think it’s time for an updated version of this list and I want to see some new names on the list (Hey Murungaru? I’m talking about you bro).
I think this topic is important because it will highlight for many why trying to make it in Kenya can be such a herculean task and as you are formulating the list, I want you to keep asking yourselves the following questions:
Okay. Let’s begin….
1) Kenya’s per capita income is $600. Steal $100 from each Kenyan annually. $3,500,000,000 per year. The 1% aren’t geniuses but the 99% are idiots.
2) Pure theft. No ideas.
3) Skim off from KPA, KPC, licensing regime, CBK, etc.
Yo KE…
Those figure cannot be true …. There is No way even Philip Moi could be worth such amount of money in this day…………
Kamlesh said everything in the Goldenberg documents … There were too many being recieving this money for any of them to have that much as quoted by anonymous…………
Instead of giving us a his testimony …. Why don’t people like this show us a bank statement that shows movement of that money………. or some Title deeds …
You guys need to wake up ….. Moi and Sons has already started feeling hungry after staying away from the tap ….. that flows money..
There is nothing bad as a rumour. Even if it is a blog.
Noni:
That theft has occurred in Kenya is not a rumor. I have attached the link to the Kroll report, which every Kenyan should read. The looting that has occurred and that is continuing to occur is unconscionable.
Link here:http://www.scribd.com/doc/269039/Looting-in-KenyaKroll-ReportHapa-Kenya-Version
After Kibaki’s government hired Kroll to find out where the money was hidden, Kibaki called the culprits and told them that in order to avoid prosecution, they needed to share some of that loot. Did you ever wonder why nothing was ever made of that report? $600 million dollars, stolen by one group and divided by another.
There’s no way you can compete fairly with people like these who are just outright stealing. This is why the country has such a low productivity rate — people are just grabbing and stealing and they’re not creating anything. It’s good for the few who can steal, but it wreaks the entire economy and leaves it with a permanent underclass.
The reason Africa is still the poorest continent in the world today is because the corruption in Africa is unique. In Latin America and Asia, they steal, but they’ll plough that money back into their economies and into local companies.
However, in Africa, they steal everything and repatriate the whole amount OUT of the country and it is this unique form of theft that is destroying the continent –Corruption on this scale does not occur anywhere else in the world.
Why even bother moving back to kenya to start a business when these are the kinds of people you’ll be forced to “compete” with?
K.E,
I agree with you on the part where you say that ……….. there is some serious stealing going on in the Kenyan government ………..
The buck stops with the people ………. At times I don’t understand why the donors gives the government money …. In the first place ……..
U see when money is given to the government … The common Wanjiku has no way of knowing when this money is given or when its taken …….. The common Wanjiku just hears of cases which have never been solved or for that matter ‘will never be solved ……….
So there is an Information Gap i.e The people don’t know who Much in Debt they are …. They don’t know where their money is going nor who is In charge of spending and when it is disbursed and how it is used ………. A lot of Kenyans don’t even know which departments carry out the most critical roles……
So…… The common Wanjiku has No way of even knowing who is stealing and who is not …………. The common Wanjiku is too busy trying to find his unga ya ugali to be able to have time to follow up on these money…
So whenever there is shoddy work done by contractors …….. The World bank and Imf go back and give the government more money … and the cycle repeats itself ………..
Man … I’ll tell you one thing This problem is a complex … Even If we usher in another Constitution …… the problem will not be dealt with ………..
Amos Wako ….. The always Smiling figure .. Is the gatekeeper of the theives………. He lets them In with a Smile and Smiles at them when they get out …… Is there any way to compete with such for IMPUNITY ……..
The obvious answer is NO …… For their to being a fair business there needs to be fair play ………. For now we have Hyena’s in the serving as our politicians …
BTW, Ali Baba was the good guy… the title should be about the thieves…
KE,
Let me add some important info to your great input. I have an immediate relative in Nyeri who’s very close to a good friend of Lucy Kibaki. She told me that when she asked her friend about why Kibaki never took action on Moi’s regime corrupt cases,she said our beloved First Lady was quick to respond that Moi “actually returned” most of the loot. And out of Mzee’s respect Kibaki decided to solve it “Kinyumbani” to avoid any embarassment. And thats the word around Nyeri. I ask myself..really? Does Lucy know the real story?….The question is to whom was it “returned to?” And if it was stolen from public coffers how come we were never told how much?…Your guess is good as mine…..God Bless Kenya and our ignorant minds!
A nation gets the leaders it deserves.
Introduce a pathogen and an organism fights it, succumbs or adapts to live with it.
You kenyans are a good people and your leaders are thieves?
Time to admit some nations are destined for greatness and some are not.
Still, it’s a beautiful country and the politics is entertaining which makes for some good expat dinner anecdotes so all is not lost.
ANONYMOUS EXPAT,
“Some countries are destined for greatness and some are not ” Typical white expat superiority complex BULLSHIT!.
Kenya is a great country with great people. I must admit you are right about our leaders, total losers.
But looking back at history most countries that succeeded “did not seem destined for greatness” at one point in their life.
India is one case in example, plagued by large population, poverty, diverse ethnicities, it is slowly overcoming these challenges. India’s economy will overtake the U.K’s in the next few years, by 2050 it will be larger than the U.S.
So save your expat dinner assumptions for your expat buddies, while u get your ass out your butt!!
arrggh!!!! I just loathe these white maafackers who think they are the shit while looking down on Africans or any dark skinned people.