To many Kenyans, Leader of Majority in Parliament Aden Duale is the Jubilee government’s foremost defender.
The Garissa Township MP takes on opponents of Jubilee – from the civil
society to CORD leaders and governors pushing for more funding for the
counties through a referendum – head-on.
His recent spat with Mr Isaac Ruto, the chairman of the Council of
Governors, is the latest demonstration of his determination to defend
the government of President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William
Ruto.
For Kenyans who remember the Kanu regime, Duale is a stark reminder
of the sycophants of those days. The likes of politician Peter Oloo
Aringo, who at some point referred to then President Daniel arap Moi as
the “Prince of Peace”, a title Christians reserve for Jesus Christ.
Duale recently said he was ready to take the bullet for President Kenyatta and Deputy President Ruto.
But, beneath the sycophancy is a man whose reputation, together with
that of some members of his family, is blotted with scandal and
accusations. Duale stands accused of land-grabbing and nepotism, while
at least one member of his family has been linked to terrorism.
In a story complete with the intrigues of attempted murder, Duale is
accused of grabbing a piece of land belonging to Garissa Primary School
where he has now built a four-storey building called Lillac Centre.
Those familiar with the story say that sometime in the 1990s, a group of
Islamic scholars requested the board of Garissa Primary School for a
piece of land to put up a mosque. However, in 2009, Duale asked the
mosque’s management to sell him a part of the land.
The mosque’s management committee was split on the issue but a majority
of the members opposed the idea, noting that the land still belonged to
the school.
One of those who opposed the request was the committee’s chairman, Mr
Yussuf Jama, the brother of Garissa County Governor Nathif Jama.
While negotiations were ongoing, Jama was shot outside the mosque by a
lone gunman early last year on his way home from evening prayers. He
resigned his position soon after.
Who replaced Jama? Mr Dubow Bare Duale, a brother of the Majority
Leader. Soon after, the land matter was resolved and Duale allowed to
lease the land.
The school has appealed to the National Land Commission to revoke the
lease and asked the Ethics the Anti-Corruption Commission to institute
proceedings against Duale. But the complaints have not been acted on for
Duale has threatened the officers with censure motions if they dare
open files against him.
The second questionable deal involves Duale’s acquisition of a piece of
land in Nairobi’s Eastleigh, where he has set up the Nomad Hotel.
The land belonged to the Ministry of Livestock where Duale served as an
assistant minister and it remains unclear how it changed hands.
Another dark secret Duale has successfully hidden from his Jubilee
benefactors and Kenyans is the suspicion that his family could be
involved in supporting terrorist activities in North Eastern region and
beyond. In fact some in Jubilee tellingly refer to him as the terror
donor within the government, a moniker which is pregnant with innuendo.
In April 2013, armed gunmen attacked Kwa Chege Kiosk and killed 10
people. Kwa Chege was an informal eatery, popular with the up-country
people and employees of development organisations.
Soon after this incident security officers in the town questioned Duale’s older brother Hassan Bare Duale.
An officer involved in the investigations, but who requested not to be named for fear of his personal security, said:
“There were too many coincidences, which we simply could not ignore. Our
intelligence showed that whenever he traveled to a place, say Mombasa,
an attack would occur soon after he left. People came to us and told us
to connect the dots. We did but we did not come up with any solid proof
to charge him. But it is quite telling that after we questioned him, the
attacks abated, at least for a while.”
According to security officers, Hassan, a former Administration Police
officer, is shielded by his brother Aden’s political clout.
As was reported recently by a section of the local press, a low-level
but sustained campaign of intimidation and ethnic cleansing against
non-Somalis is under way in Garissa town and neighbouring villages.
Duale is the MP of Garissa Township where most of these attacks have
occurred. However, he has never condemned this systematic targeting of a
section of Kenyans in his constituency.
In the past, Duale has accused CORD leader Raila Odinga of nepotism for
appointing close family members to public positions of influence while
he was Prime Minister.
But those who know him well say he is guilty of the same: He is said to
have influenced the nomination of his niece, Mariam Hassan, as a Member
of County Assembly on his United Republican Party (URP) ticket.
He is also said to have arm-twisted the National Land Commission and the
Ministry of Lands and Housing to hire another of his nieces, Fatuma
Borrow, as the Lamu County Lands Secretary.
She did not apply for the job in the first place, but her name was on
the short list. She is said to have failed the interview, answering
only three out of 10 questions asked by the panelists.
However, Uncle Aden Duale came to her rescue and she got the job that pays her more than Sh400,000 per month.
The Leader of Majority is said to be currently lobbying for another of
his brothers, Noor Bare Duale, to be appointed the chairman of the Kenya
Revenue Authority. Noor is a businessman with a lucrative tender to
supply drugs to government hospitals in the North-Eastern region.
Other accusations revolve around his alleged role in influencing
tenders. Mr Duale is accused of ensuring major contracts in his county
by the national government are issued to him and his family members.
These include the construction of five polytechnics in Garissa at a cost
of Sh150 million each, construction of Garissa Livestock market, which
was funded by the World Bank under the Kenya Municipal Program at a cost
of Sh125 million. However, the project stalled due to variation of
costs by the contractor.
Last year, another company associated with his family, Hagar
Construction Company, was given a contract to fence the Garissa
Provincial Hospital at a cost of Sh40 million. However, the project
which was awarded under the former Ministry of Northern Kenya
Development is yet to be completed after the company varied the cost of
the contract.
The Duale family has spread its interests beyond the Kenyan borders.
Duale’s sister Arfon is a member of Jubaland Parliament in Somalia.
Jubaland is the region in southern Somalia which was created by the
Kenyan government as a buffer zone against Al Shabab militants.
Arfon is a close associate of Professor Mohammed Abdi Mohammed,
popularly known as Professor Gandhi, the first president of Jubaland and
now Somalia’s ambassador to Canada.
She went to the United States around 2008 on a Somali passport as a
refugee but came back when the Jubaland government was being put in
place.
The family is said to have lobbied Prof Gandhi and the current President
of Jubaland Sheikh Ahmed Madobe to have Arfon appointed to the region’s
Parliament for its own interests.
The Leader of Majority hails from a wealthy merchant family that owns a
plethora of businesses and properties in Garissa, Nairobi and beyond.
But having achieved financial muscle, the family is now keen on
consolidating its political clout, not only in Garissa County but also
in the former North Eastern province.
Duale’s position as Leader of Majority in Parliament has given him and
the family an important platform to establish grassroot links throughout
the North Eastern region for future political endeavors.
“The ultimate aim of Aden Duale is not to stick with Jubilee but someday
break out from it and form a strong political party for the Somali
community and bargain for a higher post in subsequent governments. That
is what his family members tell people in public,” said our source.
The question nagging many people is why the President and his deputy are
still indulging Duale at the heart of government despite being linked
to terrorism, corruption and ethnic profiling of Kenyans. Could he be
hiding behind the bravado of being Jubilee’s foremost defender to pool
wool over the eyes of his benefactors? And if so, why aren’t the
intelligence forces outing him? So many question, so few answers. But
hey, this is digital Kenya. Karibu.
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