By William Maclean
Nairobi - Kenya's top anti-corruption fighter said on Sunday that he would not pursue former president Daniel arap Moi for misdeeds during his 24-year rule, but others in his government defeated at polls a year ago were "fair game".
The remarks to Reuters by Permanent Secretary for Ethics and Governance John Githongo remove a year-long uncertainty about whether the East African country's new government will prosecute Moi, accused by many Kenyans of massive theft of state assets.
Moi denies any wrongdoing.
| 'Everyone else is fair game' |
"He will be treated with special respect," Githongo said in a telephone interview, explaining that Moi's gracious conceding of defeat in 2002 elections meant he had acquired a democratic stature that should be recognised.
"We regard the former president as a special democratic case for Kenya, and therefore for Africa, and he will not be subject to the kind of scrutiny given to others," he said.
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"Everyone else is fair game."
Analysts said Kenya recorded one of the most remarkable democratic changes in Africa in 2002 by peacefully retiring one of the continent's last old-style political strongmen.
Analysts say graft flourished among a predatory elite of businessmen, MPs and civil servants in Moi's rule which ended last December with a landslide win for President Mwai Kibaki.
| Some of the money was lost through the corrupt sale of public land |
Kibaki has moved strongly to fight corruption and recently suspended half the country's top judges for taking bribes.
Commentators have said a prosecution of Moi, 79, for alleged past abuses could risk the country's stability because some of his allies remain in senior jobs in the civil service and provincial administration or are influential businessmen.
Kibaki's team is also anxious to avoid a perceived drain on time and manpower that trials of former presidents may be costing other African countries. Some point to Zambia, where former president Frederick Chiluba began a second trial this month on charges he stole $34-million in his 10 years in office.
"I'm not saying Moi's name will not crop up in investigations or that he won't be mentioned as facts are uncovered," Githongo added.
"But we have absolutely no plans to target him personally in the same way as has happened in other places. It's a hard political choice. But we have to recognise the significance of the manner in which Moi left office." Kenyans say Moi fostered a nepotistic system that bled the state of resources, and Kibaki's government is working to recover between $1-billion and $4-billion in public funds it said was stolen and hidden abroad during Moi's rule.
Deputy justice minister Robinson Githai said last week that less than 100 people were involved in the theft but they did not have properties or accounts registered under their names.
Githae said some of the money was lost through the corrupt sale of public land and theft from state-run firms, but mostly via a fraud that saw the government lose billions of shillings through state compensation for fake gold and diamond exports.
Those exports are the subject of a public inquiry Kibaki set up this year into the so-called Goldenberg scandal, named after the firm which received the compensation by the central bank.
Moi's sons and senior politicians close to him have been named by witnesses at the inquiry as recipients of money from Goldenberg, which is owned by a Kenyan of Asian origin, Kamlesh Pattni. They have denied any wrongdoing, as has Pattni.
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