KENYA:KENYA'S FORMER anti-corruption supremo returned for the first time yesterday since fleeing three years ago and warned that the country could face more political violence if its epidemic of sleaze was not tackled.
John Githongo left in 2005 saying he had received death threats for his role in cleaning up Kenyan graft.
He fled carrying documents that eventually revealed how $1 billion of government money had been paid to phantom companies.
Yesterday, he told fellow anti-corruption campaigners at a Nairobi hotel that the conditions that provoked widespread violence in the wake of disputed elections had not been addressed despite a political deal.
"The settlement and the grand coalition cannot be seen for anything more than it is - a temporary instrument, a lid that covers a range of unresolved issues," said Mr Githongo.
He met Raila Odinga, the opposition leader installed as prime minister as part of the deal, and addressed an anti-corruption forum.
Mr Githongo was appointed in 2003 by president Mwai Kibaki, who was elected on a manifesto to drive out graft. Kenyans' early optimism that a new government would clean up a system dirtied by years of one-party rule soon turned to cynicism as the same old scams were revealed. Mr Githongo eventually fled to the UK, frustrated by a lack of support.
His evidence that senior members of the government were involved in a huge procurement con - known as the Anglo Leasing scandal, after one of the phantom companies involved - forced two ministers to resign, although they were later reinstated.
The final sign that Mr Kibaki had failed to tackle corruption came in last December's election, when most observers concluded that his supporters had rigged the vote. Kenya erupted in weeks of ethnic violence that left about 1,500 dead.
Mr Githongo's return was widely welcomed by ordinary Kenyans who saw him as their champion in the fight against a corrupt political class. Yesterday Mr Githongo said he had only returned for a short visit at the invitation of Kenya's prime minister.
He painted a bleak picture of Kenyan society where a rich elite grew fatter on their corrupt takings while ordinary people struggled to survive. And he warned that without tackling inequality, poverty and a growing urban underclass the region would see more violence.
"When combined with an urbanising population, high food and fuel prices, the result is a formula for destabilisation of the continent or parts of the continent," he said.