KENYA’S president Mwai Kibaki is facing an uphill task of putting his house in order after fireworks that were sparked by the revelation that a five star hotel was secretly sold to the Lybian government.
The revelation comes hot on heels when the recently completed Safaricom Initial Public Offer was put to question after it was revealed that a secret company, whose owners are not known, has acquired a fair share of the deal.
Kibaki’s government is now on the spot as underhand dealings continue to be unraveled day after day.
The controversy surrounding the sale of Grand Regency Hotel has now taken a new turn after the Lands minister said it was sold for only Sh1.8 billion and not Sh2.9 billion.
The minister also said that two of the directors of the Libyan firm that bought the hotel are Kenyans.
The minister gave the name of the company as Libyan Arab African Investment Company (K) Ltd and said the Sh1.8 billion price was contained in the transfer documents, copies of which we have managed to get.
A Libyan embassy official, said a recent Libyan president mission to Kenya was not involved in the transaction, adding that the matter was purely between investors from his country and the Central Bank of Kenya.
The minister, who addressed a news conference in his office, said he would give more details on the sale after a meeting of the Cabinet committee on finance and economy hurriedly convened by the Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
Finance minister last week said the hotel was sold for Sh2.9 billion.
Professional valuers said it was worth at least Shs4.5 billion.
Earlier, the finance minister together with his secretary held talks with Prime Minister ahead of the committee meeting over the controversial sale of the hotel.
The minister, who is at the centre of the controversy and the secretary, went to consult with Mr Odinga before the committee convened.
At the same time, the country’s legal advisor (Attorney General) has said that he was in the dark over the deal and would get information from the Government before commenting on the matter.
“I am in the process of collecting all the documentation on the sale of Grand Regency and I will make an official statement only after advising the Government,” he said.
The talks between the minister and the prime minister took place as officials from the Libyan company that bought Grand Regency held a meeting at the five-star hotel.
An identity card number given as that of one of the new directors of the hotel is 6104260, which we traced to the Electoral Commission of Kenya roll as belonging to one Abuga Kaunda.
The ID card shows that Kaunda was born in 1965 and is a registered voter in a Nairobi constituency.
According to the documents released by lands minister, the sale deal was also sealed in the presence of two other people whose passport numbers have been given as 298071 and 001428.
Even as controversy raged on the secret sale, Public Health minister broke ranks with her Cabinet colleagues to defend the finance minister.
“We should not allow the law of the jungle to prevail in this country by condemning and heaping all manner of accusations against others; we should instead be asking if proper valuation (on the hotel) was done,” she said.
Meanwhile, five MPs vowed that they would take to the streets to press for the revocation of the sale and the sacking of the finance minister, even after being denied permission by the police to demonstrate.
The MPs also plan to take a Motion of no confidence against the minister to Parliament, in a move reminiscent of the 1989 censure that brought down a former Vice-President who has since died.
In another development, the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya (Icpak) threatened to strip the finance minister of his certificate of practice.
The institute’s chairman said if investigations into the sale points at the ministers wrong-doing then, disciplinary action would be taken against him.