[kictanet] [ke-internetusers] Re: PS Ndemo, ECONET Scandal aand Vested Interests
mwananchi at hushmail.com
mwananchi at hushmail.com
Fri Oct 10 06:10:04 EAT 2008
John,
Dr. Bonny Khalwale on Wednesday in parliament as Chairman of the
Parliamentary Accounts Committee in Parliament questioned why the
Government, presumably through the Info. and Comm. and other
related dockets was jeopardising our national security by selling
shares in the telecoms sector to foreigners.
http://www.nation.co.ke/News/politics/-/1064/478582/-/ywrqttz/-
/index.html
Dr. Khalwale was obviously not aware of PS Ndemo's latest and
seemingly hurried initiative to abolish local shareholding
requirements in the ICT sector and it should no doubt be brought to
Parliament's attention and the public's notice.
http://africa.reuters.com/business/news/usnJOE4950WH.html
It is time PS Ndemo presented himself in his official capacity to
Kenyans before the Parliamentary committee and named the foreign
companies that have threatened not to invest in Kenya because they
cannot allegedly partner with Kenyans! Kenyans should never condone
blackmail, let alone from foreigners whose sole goal is to make hay
while the sun shines from Kenyans without engaging in knowledge and
technology transfer, indigenous wealth creation and other derived
benefits that newly industrialised countries (China, India etc)
have reaped from enforcing local ownership requirements.
It is time such critical decisions that affect the nation were
taken out of the hands of individuals who through possibly coerced
strokes of pens to gazettements seriously compromise the nation's
march to progression in indigenous ownership of sectors of the
economy. Such critical decisions should belong in the hands of
Wananchi through Parliamentarians who should debate and ratify such
critical and arbitrary gazettements.
Recently we saw the results of ill advised policies that favour
foreigners at the expense of indigenous Kenyans. We saw Safaricom's
share price become thoroughly depressed by foreigners who were in a
rush to dump the shares. The greatest sufferers were local
investors many of whom were already short changed with their paltry
21 percent share allocation. Yet the powers that be, sought to
favour foreigners who have no allegiance to the nation at the
expense of Wananchi.
What has PS Ndemo done to improve and increase local ownership in
the ICT sector before concluding that such efforts and approaches
were futile and that Kenyans were useless investors? If Ndemo truly
had the interests of Kenyans at heart he wouldn't be putting
foreigners ahead of Kenyans! Similarly why has Ndemo been appending
his signature to documents that favour Libyans amongst other
foreigners that undermine Wananchi while holding a public office
that demands maintaining public trust and protecting public
interest?
http://www.eastandard.net/InsidePage.php?id=1143990641&cid=4
The Law regarding Acting on behalf of foreigners interests:
http://www.kenyalaw.org/kenyalaw/klr_app/view_content.php?ContentHis
toryID=12838
Why is PS Ndemo purporting to fix what is not broken? Kenya
recorded a 1330% increase in FDI in 2007, perhaps PS Ndemo could be
excused for the oversight at the time of his arbitrary
pronouncement. Surely something must be working right..
http://africa.reuters.com/country/TZ/news/usnLO172755.html
The report showed that FDI to Kenya rose to $728 million in
2007 compared with $51 million in the previous year, a rise
of close to 1,330 percent. "Kenya's FDI increased due to
large privatisation sales in the telecommunications industry
and investment in railways," Naiko said.
The Econet sham has been misused repeatedly by PS Ndemo as the
reason for his rationale in first reducing local shareholding
requirements from 30%, down to 20% and now to his envisioned ZERO%.
Instead of looking at the root cause of the matter which are
unfavorable policies towards local investors, a hostile lending
environment towards startups, poor vetting, poor tendering
procedures, poor due diligence and irregularities by the regulator
and reforming those, he appears keen to lambast and blame anything
and everything else on Wananchi rather than address the root causes
by instituting and promoting professional changes and improvements
in the afflicted public institutions. Indeed how did bankrupt KNFC
and Econet meet the US$100m threshhold of turnover for tendering
when Deloitte and Touche audited accounts show Econet's largest
operation (before they were bundled out of Nigeria for not having
paid for their shares) having a turnover then of a mere US$8
million and KNFC's total assets valued at Ksh 20million as of 2006?
The poor financials and the exercise of due care in conducting due
diligence by the regulator are the reasons why the licence fee
could not be paid to the GK within the proscribed period and it has
nothing to do with the vast majority of local investors whom Ndemo
is trying to vilify. PS Ndemo and Treasury should let the public
know if Econet has forfeited and paid in full its US$1.3 million
bid bond to the exchequer for failure to pay the licence fees in
cash as required:
Audited Financials:
http://rapidshare.com/files/152242139/Financials.pdf
Miscellaneous:
http://rapidshare.com/files/152242138/NjiriSA.pdf
http://rapidshare.com/files/152242137/EconetSA.pdf
For all we know PS Ndemo could have been misled by vested and
powerful interests in the matter. Naturally the principles of
justice dictate that he ought to be given the accordance of the
benefit of doubt but if his deliberate actions show otherwise then
the wheels of justice must run their course. If it takes 14 years
as it did for the eventual trial and judgement of Oluga and Somaia
for fraud against the Republic, then so be it.
This is why if Ndemo is indeed innocent, he should not hesitate to
speedily request KACC, the CID, Kenya's numerous independent anti-
corruption organisations, any willing international partners with
forensic investigation capacities, members of the public to work
towards investigating the matter. It is also important that the PS'
accomplishments on behalf of the nation are not blighted by a few
but serious malfeasances if he was indeed misled. PS Ndemo's
involvement in the matter is a serious issue considering what the
law states about deliberately subverting directives and rulings
such as the Minister's cancellation of the licence, given that
deliberate ignorance of court rulings and Ministerial cancellations
is classified under law as fraud.
The law as regards Misleading the public:
http://www.kenyalaw.org/kenyalaw/klr_app/view_content.php?ContentHis
toryID=12843
Section 354 of Chapter XXXV (Miscellaneous Offences Against Public
Authority) of the Laws of Kenya:
“ANY PERSON WHO KNOWINGLY UTTERS AS AND FOR A SUBSISTING
AND EFFECTUAL DOCUMENT ANY DOCUMENT WHICH HAS BY ANY
LAWFUL AUTHORITY BEEN ORDERED TO BE REVOKED, CANCELLED
OR SUSPENDED, or the operation of which has ceased by
effluxion of time, or by death, or by the happening of
any other event, is guilty of an offence of the same
kind, and IS LIABLE TO THE SAME PUNISHMENT, AS IF HE HAD
FORGED THE DOCUMENT,”
http://www.kenyalaw.org/kenyalaw/klr_app/view_content.php?ContentHis
toryID=9961
Amos Wako as the AG should let Kenyans know whether he was
consulted by PS Ndemo, what his legal opinion was if any, by
releasing the relevant correspondence, and if so, what rationale he
employed in purporting to settle a case the Government had already
won through a final court ruling!
Judge's final Ruling upholding cancellation of licence:
http://rapidshare.com/files/152242136/Econet_v_Minister.pdf
video of PS Ndemo personally signing the sham "settlement
agreement":
http://rapidshare.com/files/152229210/en_bs_250707_econectknfc.mp4
Laws of Kenya regarding the Giving of advice:
http://www.kenyalaw.org/kenyalaw/klr_app/view_content.php?ContentHis
toryID=12842
AG Wako has shown previously that in matters where the Government
will ultimately prevail, the Government will not hesitate to uphold
the public interest even where the outcome could embarrass the
executive as was the unprecedented case of Kenya Duty Free v GK
where the Government's winning defence was that the former
President had taken a US$2 million bribe from the applicant.
http://www.freshfields.com/news/mediareleases/mediarelease.asp?id=10
19
It is an inescapable fact that PS Ndemo seems to wish away that the
Econet licence was Scandal number 10 in Edward Clay's list of 20
scandals committed against the nation:
http://rapidshare.com/files/152246719/20Scandals.pdf
What happened to Ndemo's rather reasonable previous requirement in
2007 about local ownership, did vested foreign and "local -
Mobitelea like" interests twist his arm and coerce him to change
his mind??
What we are saying is that a foreign investor needs time to
(get to) know whom he can work with," Ndemo says. "In three
years he can do a private placement or in five years do an
IPO (initial public offering) or introduce employee option
plans, but they must give 30 per cent to locals."
The issues are very simple, Ndemo should come clean and cease
condoning and abetting the commission of illegal acts against the
public trust and interest that involve a permanently CANCELLED and
thus null and void license; open the matter to public scrutiny and
investigation and mostly importantly it is his duty as a Kenyan to
find constructive ways of promoting indigenous Kenyan ownership
instead of working day and night to find ways to increase ownership
by foreigners at the expense of Wananchi. It is indeed absurd that
when Mama Mboga attempts to make a living without having a valid
licence, she will certainly face the wrath of askaris, how
foreigners can blantantly walk into Kenya, disenfranchise their
local component with blessings from vested interests and when their
licence is cancelled continue to operate without a valid licence
and without a new tender being called reeks of impunity at best.
When 48 members of Parliament in 2003 rose up to be counted, they
surely knew what the animal they were pointing out, the same animal
that now disrespects Kenyan institutions as it continues to run
around while flashing a long cancelled and now null and void
licence as part of a grand and colossal fraud.
http://www.telegeography.com/cu/article.php?article_id=2030
Peterson Olale
On Thu, 09 Oct 2008 15:59:44 +0000 John Maina <j.maina at ymail.com>
wrote:
>Brian
>
>We dont dispute that.
>
>We are asking about the fact that the government is ignoring court
>injuctions which were shown there
>
>Why ignore court cases?
>
>JM
>
>----- Original Message ----
>From: Gakuru Alex <alexgakuru.lists at gmail.com>
>To: j.maina at ymail.com
>Cc: kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke
>Sent: Thursday, October 9, 2008 4:54:50 PM
>Subject: Re: [kictanet] Econet Haters.... :-D
>
>Brian,
>
>As kictanet chairman with all the 'forum powers', I honestly feel
>that it is unfair for you to drag on this conversation at least
>from a
>"fair play" perspective....
>
>If you choose not to kill the thread, at least you should avoid
>being
>a discussant?
>
>regards,
>
>Alex
>
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