Ladies and Gentlemen;

On January 14, 2016, we gave a detailed brief on why we believe the proceeds of Eurobond money have not been fully accounted for.

Since then, nothing has changed. Only a trail of denial by the government has followed.

The denial and determination to confuse the public has been long and sustained.

First, they tried to make Eurobond a Raila Odinga affair and insisted on inviting me to the Treasury to peruse the documents over a cup of tea.

We said No, and challenged the Treasury to share the information with all Kenyans in line with the dictates of the Constitution.

Then they changed and claimed a desk had been set up at the National Treasury where the public could get the information on Eurobond. It turned out no such desk ever existed.

Then they began issuing cooked data. When we challenged them to pinpoint specific projects funded by Eurobond and conduct a value for money audit on those projects, the National Treasury said ministries, agencies and departments would file that information in ten days to be shared with the public. They later changed to say it was difficult to pinpoint what project was funded specifically with Eurobond money since all monies went into one pool.

At some stage both the DPP and the EACC purported to be investigating the Eurobond saga. In its so-called investigations, the EACC found it necessary to intimidate the whistle blower, threatening me with dire consequences if I failed to record a statement with them despite the fact that I had furnished them with all the information in my disposal. Finally, they turned the verdict that no money was lost.

In recent weeks, the National Government, backed by the private sector, went onto an overdrive, buying space in print media to try and convince Kenyans that all is well with Eurobond money.

It is strange, but hardly surprising that the Kenya Private Sector Alliance has swung to the defense of the government.

This is typical of regimes that turn government into some kind of personal business. The special interests then turn government into a game only they can afford to play.

In such regimes, the special interests win the deals and make the money. But the public foots the bill. They defend the government because they think they own the government.

Strangely but hardly surprising though is the fact that all the explanations offered by the Central Bank of Kenya, the National Treasury and the Private Sector players, there is nothing but continuations of the campaign of lies and cover up over the funds at the expense of the taxpayers.

When it comes to public finance matters, including receipt of money, conversion of currency or transfer of public funds, the Central Bank of Kenya and no other institution is the final authority.

Yet to date, all that the Treasury, the CBK and other organisations have put out are spread sheets and explanations of the same letters whose veracity we dispute and whose numbering even the Treasury has admitted to be faulty.

These adverts and write ups ARE NOT BANKING INFORMATION and therefore account for nothing on this matter.

A banking statement from the Central Bank of Kenya capturing the movement of money from New York and receipt of the same money in Nairobi is yet to be shown to the public. The CBK remains loud in its silence on this matter.

The CBK knows that money transfer, receipt and instructions for such transactions are accompanied by Swift Code transfer forms including MT103, MT 202 and MT 502. These forms are missing in all the claims the CBK and the Treasury have been putting out. Why? Your guess is good as mine.

In the meantime, the Report of the Auditor General has been delayed because facts on Eurobond money, which that report must carry, are not forthcoming. The Report of the auditor General is important in the formulation of the Budget, which the current session of Parliament is expected to debate.

That is how critical it is that we resolve the Eurobond question.

And that is why we remain steadfast in demanding that National Treasury officials, namely the Cabinet Secretary Mr. Henry Rotich, the Principal Secretary Dr Kamau Thugge and the Accountant General Mr. Bernard Ndungu need to RESIGN IMMEDIATELY and be arraigned in court for committing the following acts or omissions:

Undermining the Constitution by refusing to deposit the Eurobond proceeds immediately and in full into the Consolidated Fund.

Concocting documents to cover up a massive loss of Public Funds.

Deliberately misleading the Public Accounts Committee and taxpayers that the Eurobond Proceeds were paid in full into the Consolidated Fund.

We have taken additional steps that we hope will ensure that the Federal Reserve Bank of New York explains the veracity of the swift transfer document posted on the National Treasury’s website stating that a sum of 999 million US dollars from the Eurobond Proceeds was deposited in an account with the bank on 8th September 2014. We expect the steps we have embarked on will compel the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to give a full account of where the Eurobond Proceeds went after they were deposited in that account.

It is our expectation that the Federal Reserve Bank of New York will come out clearly and demonstrate that it was not a party to what is clearly an elaborate money laundering scheme by producing Bank Statements detailing movements of the Eurobond proceeds deposited in the Account between 8th September 2014 and 30th June 2015.

The same applies to JP Morgan Chase Bank (Johannesburg) Branch which we expect to account for the authenticity of the bank statements posted on the National Treasury’s website purporting to show that the Kenya Eurobond proceeds were deposited with them instead of the Parent Bank in New York.

And our challenge to the President remains. Uhuru Kenyatta came to office under the slogan of Usawa. Uwazi. Uchumi. We want to see this Uwazi in practice.

The President must declare the Eurobond matter as a National Disaster and Institute an independent international Forensic Audit to completely track and trace the whereabouts of 999 million US dollars of the Eurobond Proceeds that were not paid into the Consolidated Fund.

He must institute an audit of expenditure allegedly funded by the Eurobond proceeds. He must also implement the Treasury Single Account (TSA) to remove the plethora of opaque revenue collection accounts (such as the so called “Sovereign Bond Account”) through which corrupt government officials divert revenues into before revenues are paid into the Consolidated Fund. The President must restore the independence of the Office of the Auditor General (including over its Budgets and staffing) by removing this office from the Executive arm of government and transferring it to the National Assembly.

President Uhuru Kenyatta must declare IFMIS a big failure, a sham, and scandal and task the National Treasury with implementing a world class and robust accounting system consistent with generally accepted public accounting standards. Indeed it would have been easy to account for and trace the Eurobond proceeds if the Treasury had a world class and truly integrated financial and management information system –the very acronyms of IFMIS.

The Rt. Hon Raila Odinga, EGH.