-Caveat Lector-
from:
http://www.mg.co.za/mg/news/99jan2/25jan-dolphin.html
Click Here: <A HREF="http://www.mg.co.za/mg/news/99jan2/25jan-dolphin.html">Da
ily Mail&Guardian: The curious history of Dol�</A>
-----
Johannesburg, South Africa. January 25, 1999
The curious history of
Dolphin's Ketan Somaia
A Kenyan writer expresses astonishment at the continued success of the
Dolphin Group in South Africa.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
I 'M sure I'm not the only Kenyan who was surprised to read that Ketan Somaia
of the Gulf-based Dolphin Group of companies is once again embroiled in
questionable business in South Africa, this time over an arms deal.
Since 1996, many people here in Nairobi have been amazed to find that
Somaia's company was involved in a game reserve deal in Mpumalanga and that
he seemed to be taken seriously by some senior people like Mathews Phosa in
South Africa.
The following is what many people in Kenya believe of Somaia: T
His big break in Kenya was in 1985 when he was awarded a contract to supply
equipment to the All Africa Games that were held in Nairobi that year. The
extent to which the costs in this deal were inflated is considered the start
of the practice of politically connected people being paid by the government
to "supply air" -- because it entails being paid for goods that are not
delivered.
Somaia's political godfather was the late Hezekiah Oyugi, a permanent
secretary in the Office of the President in charge of Provincial
Administration and Internal Security - the man who signed detention without
trial orders in Kenya.
A series of huge contracts to supply computers, military equipment, etc were
won by Somaia in the five years between 1985 and 1990. Enraged that he had
lost out on a contract in this country to Somaia, the late Tiny Rowland of
Lonrho wrote to the president saying Somaia had shown him blank Kenya
government procurement papers with all the spaces for figures left blank.
Rowland said Somaia boasted that he simply inserted whatever figure he wanted
and invited Lonrho to work with him.
To date, the series of "air supply" deals perpetrated by Somaia remain
prominent features in the reports of the Kenya government's Controller and
Auditor General.
Hezekiah Oyugi was eventually implicated in the grisly murder of Kenya's
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Robert Ouko, in 1990. Local and international
outrage led to the temporary arrest of both Oyugi and the much reviled
Nicholas Biwott (then minister of Energy).
Policemen and relatives who met the previously extremely arrogant Oyugi when
he and Biwott were being held by police, say that the man's fall from grace
had caused him to have a nervous breakdown. He wept uncontrollably and wore
an old pullover full of holes. After his release he fell ill and died soon
after in circumstances his family and many Kenyans believe were suspicious.
With his godfather out of the way, Somaia left Kenya and moved to the Gulf.
An earlier UK Pounds 500,000 donation to Margaret Thatcher's British
Conservative Party, plus dealings with Mark Thatcher, meant Somaia was able
to convince former Conservative Party chairman Cecil Parkinson to become
chairman of the Dolphin Group of Companies.
Kenyan journalists shake their heads in utter amazement when they hear that
not only has Somaia escaped a Kenyan prison, but he is actually trying to
present himself as a respectable businessman in South Africa and some people
are taking him seriously.
The issue that South Africans should keep in mind when Somaia tries to broker
these deals in your country is that the entire Dolphin Group is actually the
property of Kenyan taxpayers, who paid for it all.
* The name of the Kenyan author has been withheld on request.
-- The Mail & Guardian, January 25, 1999.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Material on the Electronic Mail&Guardian site may not be republished without
permission
-----
Aloha, He'Ping,
Om, Shalom, Salaam.
Em Hotep, Peace Be,
Omnia Bona Bonis,
All My Relations.
Adieu, Adios, Aloha.
Amen.
Roads End
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