Minister seeks to break jinx at the Treasury

By Standard on Sunday Reporter

For politicians expecting Finance Minister, Uhuru Kenyatta, to tumble over the slippery docket, the anticipation is premature as he has reportedly sworn to stay and fight on to the last day of the Tenth Parliament.

Initially torn between transfer to another ministry and "losing face by holding on", The Standard on Sunday has established Uhuru has finally arrived at a "firm decision to fight from within".

Some allies of the minister had wanted the Gatundu South MP to opt out of the sensitive ministry to "salvage his image and stay on course" for the presidential race in 2012.

The thinking among Uhuru’s backers was Finance ministry is jinxed and is known for bringing down political careers. The example of a "humble and harmless" David Mwiraria is among those invoked to dissuade Uhuru.

But in a swift about-turn, a section of his backers are convinced the current hitch at the Treasury may turn out to be a blessing in disguise for the Deputy Prime Minister if he streamlines the ministry. This includes ridding it of "its current rot perpetuated by a cartel". "He must crack this one because if he fails or opts to be transferred, then he would have no business laying claim on the highest office in the land," observes former Gatanga MP David Murathe.

The Kanu politician believes Uhuru, who has finally been accorded the nod to engineer changes in the ministry, would succeed where many have failed.

Other sources close to the minister maintain he was sabotaged in the case involving a discrepancy of over Sh10 billion.

"These fellows injected the errors in the Supplementary Budget and immediately sounded out the Mars Group to discredit Uhuru. It is the work of PNU/ODM-Kenya politicians bent on puncturing Uhuru’s presidential chances," our source confided.

According to the source, the politicians used a cartel that has been at the Treasury for over two decades to execute its plot.

"It is the same team that Mudavadi tried to scuttle when he was Finance Minister after he unearthed the Goldenberg scam. But we are happy the (Chris) Okemo (Finance) Committee has recommended an audit of the last three years. We are sure a host of scams would be unearthed," he told The Standard on Sunday. Uhuru’s "typing error" story is, however, not convincing. The sequence of events that followed his confession of the error begs questions.

The Kanu leader was hosted by President Kibaki’s elder son Jimmy, three days later at a fund drive in Othaya constituency, Nyeri. Here, Jimmy advised Uhuru "not to worry" by assuring him his father (the President) was behind him.

But even more telling was Public Health Minister Beth Mugo’s decision to stir up — yet again — the storm about bad maize, a move pundits argue was meant to deflect attention from Uhuru.