Kenyan leader faces vote of no confidence

By Alex Singleton | 24 February 2005

Kenya's president, Mwai Kibaki, could be removed from office in a no-confidence vote being brought by MPs in the country's ruling party. It follows the publication of a dossier outlining corruption by Britain's high commissioner Sir Edward Clay.

The Kenyan roads minister has called for corrupt government ministers to be sacked. But the lands minister, Amos Kimunya, has called for Sir Edward Clay to be arrested: "The fact is that what he says about corruption is based on... information that is corruptly obtained. He should be 'taken in' for corruption. He uses information... released unofficially and then says he is a crusader against corruption."

I'm an optimist about sub-Saharan Africa. There is no reason why Africa cannot be as rich and prosperous as the rich as the West, and I believe that one day it will be. But corruption is a factor holding back its development. That is why it is so essential that African leaders work hard to eradicate it.