KENYA:The politician's rebirth has led to fears that a 'culture of impunity' has survived, writes Rob Crillyin Nairobi
Nicholas Biwott has been dumped out of Kenyan politics twice. First when he was named in a murder investigation and then for a second time when the hated Kanu regime was swept from power during an anticorruption purge four years ago.
But now he is back after the sort of political rebirth that would make Jeffrey Archer jealous.
Anti-corruption campaigners have spent the past week expressing disbelief that a man so closely associated with reviled former president Daniel arap Moi has been able to seize control of the Kanu party, making him an early front-runner to challenge for power in next year's general election.
It is the latest in a series of blows to ordinary Kenyans who thought the dark days of Moi's kleptocratic administration were consigned to history.
Last month president Mwai Kibaki reinstated two ministers who resigned in disgrace after being named in separate investigations earlier this year.
Among the voices raised in anger was that of Sir Edward Clay - the British high commissioner to Kenya until his retirement last year.
He said Biwott's return meant the country's "culture of impunity" had survived a change of government.
"Kenya's oldest party has resolved its differences by reverting to type - to the type of its last government - led by someone who has the nationwide reputation of being venal, ruthless but nevertheless capable of making at least his trains run on time," he said.
Speaking to The Irish Times, Biwott said Sir Edward was "wrong and misinformed" and blamed the local press for creating the wrong picture of him. He said none of the allegations had ever been proven in court.
"People should know the true picture and not the imaginary Biwott," he said.
Biwott was long considered the right-hand man of his tribe-mate Moi, who governed for 24 years and left the country with crumbling roads, a shrinking economy and endemic corruption.
But Biwott fell from favour after being named as the prime suspect in the 1990 murder of the Kenyan foreign minister, Robert Ouko. Moi ordered his arrest, although charges were never brought.
Biwott returned to ministerial duty after several years in the political wilderness only to be removed from power four years ago.
Earlier this year one of his companies was named by an inquiry into a €750 million gold export subsidy scam, known as the Goldenberg scandal, saying it received tens of thousands of pounds in unexplained revenue.
The catalogue of unresolved accusations was enough for the US to slap a travel ban on the secretive politician two years ago.
None of that has stopped him making several attempts to wrest control of Kanu from Uhuru Kenyatta, son of the country's first president. Last week he succeeded.
He was elected chairman by a breakaway meeting of delegates, thought to have the support of both Moi and Kibaki as they attempt to stitch up the presidency.
Maina Kiai, chairman of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, said Biwott's return would send a shiver down many Kenyans' spines.
He said it appeared to be a political manoeuvre orchestrated by a president running out of support and attempting to bring opposition leaders into his camp.
"What we are seeing are election moves," he said.
"Clearly the message that is being sent to the world is that the war on corruption is over, and what is more important is the election and winning at any cost."
It was not supposed to be like this. Kibaki was elected president four years ago, sweeping away Kanu and its 40-year rule. He came to power at the head of a coalition that promised to make tribalism and patronage a thing of the past. But his drive has faltered.
First his anti-corruption supremo, John Githongo, was forced to flee the country after his family was threatened. Then several of his senior ministers and his vice-president were named in corruption inquiries.
Two resigned earlier this year only to welcomed back by Kibaki last month.
George Saitoti stepped down as minister of education after being implicated in the Goldenberg scandal. A commission into the scandal recommended that he be considered for charges.
But now he is back at the education ministry, where he is responsible for £55 million in aid donated by Britain over the next five years.
The result is that three of the potential front-runners in next year's elections are tainted by graft, according to Sir Edward Clay.
"Kibaki goes back to the first Kenyatta administration, Biwott represents all that is most obnoxious about the Moi era and Saitoti is the best-known face of Kenya's largest single and still unresolved scandal," he said from his home in Britain.
"Who would have said two years ago that such an outcome was seriously conceivable? This is an amazing turn-up for the books." He said Kibaki was never genuine in his commitment to fighting corruption and that it was time for donors to send a signal that they would not tolerate people such as Biwott taking key positions in a future government.
The Kenyan parliament's decision to raise Mr Kibaki's salary by 186 per cent has outraged many in a country where more than half the population lives on less than a dollar a day.
Parliament voted last week to raise Mr Kibaki's monthly salary to nearly $30,000 (€23,000) a month, plus allowances of $18,600, officials said.
That makes Mr Kibaki (75), who is already a multi-millionaire with large retail property businesses, one of the best-paid African leaders and a bigger earner than many western heads of state.