News

By LYDIAH GATAMBU

ATTORNEY-GENERAL Amos Wako has denied ever receiving any investigation report by the risk advisory firm Kroll and Associates of London.

According to UK media reports, the dossier alleges that retired President Daniel Moi, Keryo South MP Nicholas Brwott and their cronies stashed billion of shillings In accounts overseas.

Speaking yesterday. Wako said the matter was still being investigated by the Kenya Anti Corruption Commission KACC), which is why he did not have any authority over it. "The matter falls under the jurisdiction of KACC until I get the investigation report," said.

He reiterated that he was not aware that the report had been leaked to the Government. The allegations were based investigations conducted Kroll on behalf of the Kenyan Government. They first appeared in Guardian newspaper of Britain and the internet which the local paper claimed to have revealed how a network in the Moi regime stashed funds abroad.

The Guardian reported that the probe that was commissioned by the Government was submitted in 2004 but was never acted upon. Government spokesman Alfred Mutua said the Government found the report inaccurate and incomplete which is why they did not release it to the public, claiming that it was yet another ploy by former Ethics permanent secretary John Githongo to taint the Government's name.

Wako was speaking at a Nairobi hotel when he officially opened a consultative workshop on churches and societies. He said the temporary embargo on registration of new church societies had led to a huge backlog of unprocessed applications.

Wako added that the current Societies Act did not provide any yardstick for distinguishing church communities.

"The Societies Act is an Omnibus law that does not provide adequate instruments for regulating churches specifically," he said, adding that the law should be reviewed to accommodate liberalisation.

During the workshop the stakeholders will deliberate on what should be the appropriate registration and control mechanism for the religious societies without having to deny specific religious organisation registration.

Currently there are over 8,000 registered churches in the country and over 6,000 pending applications, Wako observed that the Registrar's Office received over 60 applications monthly.

"We are a democratic country and we cannot stop registering, though the increased number of applications. is a problem we are facing;' he said.

Their concern, he said, was not regulation of churches but facilitation on the issue of registration.