draining development.pdf - Khazar University

438 Draining Development?Anglo Leasing is the generic description given to some 18 contracts,two of which involved a shell company called Anglo Leasing and most ofwhich were entered into by the Kenyan government over a period of twoor three years. This period straddled the end of the rule of PresidentDaniel arap Moi and the election of President Mwai Kibaki in 2003.Twelve of the contracts were placed during Moi’s term of office, and sixafter Kibaki came to power.The contracts were for a wide range of equipment and services spreadacross a number of government departments. These ranged from thePrison Service, the Police, the Police Air Wing, the Administration Police(responsible for country districts), the Passport Office, the Post Office,the Kenyan navy, and the Meteorological Department. The equipment inquestion for each of these departments included digital communicationsnetworks for the prisons, the Post Office, and the Administrative Police;weapons, security equipment, vehicles, and a forensic science laboratoryfor the police Criminal Investigations Department; helicopters for thePolice Air Wing; an oceanographic survey vessel for the navy; and aweather surveillance radar system for the Meteorological Office. Thetotal value of these contracts was close to US$1 billion. An evaluation ofthe contracts by a leading international firm of accountants concludedthat the majority were vastly overpriced given that the equipment wasoften either outdated and useless or far too sophisticated to be supportedadequately. 20 The actual need for the majority of the equipment was, inany event, highly questionable.All of the contracts had many or all of the same suspicious features,some of which may be summarized as follows:• The projects were not subject to the normal public procurement processesas laid down by government circulars prior to 2001 and byregulations since 2001.• The procurement processes were normally avoided on the basis thatthe projects were a matter of national security, or that there was effectivelyonly one available supplier, or that there was the utmost urgencyto undertake the project. None of these assertions was ever effectivelychallenged or investigated.