Let's not be caught up in political nuancing that we forget calling to truth

For nearly two years leading to the General Election, a coterie of Kenyan intellectuals and activists maintained a running commentary on “theft of Eurobond billions.” Many of us were concerned that the narrative was being driven more by partisan politics than a genuine concern for the truth. In a country where intellectualism is easily sacrificed on the altar of partisan politics, the non-factual narratives being pushed were doing more harm than good; they were denying Kenyans an opportunity to establish the truth about the Eurobond billions.

Last week’s report of the Auditor General vindicated many of us. For the avoidance of doubt those of us who dismissed the now discredited narrative did not allege that there was nothing dodgy about Eurobond. Our position was always that the activists and intellectuals were asking the politically spicy, but wrong questions; they were focusing on the wrong arena and in that way enabling the Treasury and the government generally to get away from questions on areas where shenanigans seem to have occurred. Because these intellectuals know different, this was an unfortunate betrayal of trust.

For many moons, we had been told with amazing confidence that a significant portion of the Eurobond billions never actually left the USA banks. The alleged miscreant banks were said to include the Federal Reserve Bank, the near equivalent of our Central Bank.

It was curious that Kenyans easily swallowed this argument. Even when the Treasury shared correspondence with the said US banks showing that the money had been fully wired to Kenya’s CBK, these were dismissed. At some point the Auditor General was even preparing to go to the US to pursue the money trail. Are we not an amazing people?

Anyone who has basic modicum of knowledge of the US banking system would tell you that it is nigh impossible for the kind of fraud that was being suggested to be perpetrated by these banks and especially the Federal Reserve Bank.

The US government imposes such huge fines on American institutions for even the most basic of malfeasance. A few billion Kenya shillings would not be worth it, especially when such billions were public monies, meaning they would be discovered. But these arguments were repeated ad-nauseam by people who obviously knew better. By harping on the argument that the money never left the US, these activists consumed all the oxygen on the Eurobond discourse and denied Kenyans opportunity to ask two questions one of which has now been raised by the Auditor General’s report, who has finally admitted that all the Eurobond monies came to Kenya! 

Firstly, once it got to Kenya, where did the money go? Was it used for the purposes for which the bond was sought? This is where the primary focus of our interrogation of the Treasury ought to have been.

I can imagine the Treasury mandarins gleefully enjoying the focus on the “money never left the USA” argument as long as it kept the discussion away from “what happened to the money once it was in Kenya.” Secondly this very loud narrative kept us away from an interrogation of all the transactions surrounding the Bond. Who were the advisers, arrangers and agents that were paid humongous fees for arranging the transactions? How were they procured? Was there conflict of interest? Were their fees kosher? These are the issues that would have been of benefit to the discourse on Eurobond.

By keeping us all focused on an issue obviously uninformed by reality, our otherwise very sober intellectual activists failed the country. And our media took it all in, hook line and sinker. All is not lost though. These issues still need answers.

Unfortunately, many of those who took the disgraced position lost credibility to continue pushing these critical questions. There is an important lesson here for all of us, one must never be so caught up in political nuancing that they forget their greater calling to truth, even when it is uncomfortable.

That is the calling of every intellectual, even as they pursue activism.

- The writer is an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya