Winnie wanted VIP deal for Arturs, inquiry told
Story by MUGUMO MUNENE and LUCAS BARASA
Publication Date: 7/11/2006

The Nation, Kenya
July 11 2006

Details of how Ms Winnie Wangui laboured to smooth the way for the
Armenian brothers just moments before they caused a commotion at the
Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) were laid bare before the
Kiruki Commission yesterday.

And for the first time at the commission, the issue of her identity
came up after a witness told the inquiry that Ms Wangui was known in
the office as Ms Winnie Mwai.

Ms Wangui – daughter of political activist and businesswoman Mary
Wambui – made a series of frantic calls to the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs officer stationed at the airport, asking that the brothers
and guests they were expecting be accorded VIP treatment.

And Ms Wangui was still enquiring on their well-being about half an
hour after they had clashed with Customs officers before they left
the airport.

The ministry’s protocol officer on duty on that day, Mr Paul Latoya,
told the Kiruki Commission yesterday that he had to abide by the
instructions from Ms Wangui since she was a senior foreign affairs
official at the time.

Ordinarily, Mr Latoya told the commission, the VIP treatment was
reserved for Cabinet ministers, assistant ministers, permanent
secretaries and diplomats.

Other guests may be accorded the courtesy if instructions are issued
by a senior government officer.

Once a person is termed a VIP, the protocol officer assists them
receive faster service at the Immigration and the Customs desks while
they wait at the Government VIP or Kenya Duty Free lounges.

Mr Latoya told the inquiry that Ms Wangui was known in the office as
Ms Winnie Mwai.

Her lawyer, Dr Kamau Kuria grappled with the issue after the commission
asked him to clarify whether the two names referred to the same person
once he rose to question Mr Latoya.

Commissioner Ahmed Issack asked: Dr Kuria, you are on record for
Winnie Wangui and the witness is talking about Winnie Mwai. Are they
one and the same?

Kuria: I was given this (witness) statement and I’m not responsible
for the writing of the statement.

Issack: We can assume that they are the same person basically?

Kuria: I don’t know who recorded the statement but this is the client
I have come to represent… Yes.

And when he finally turned to Mr Latoya, Dr Kuria did not challenge
the evidence that Ms Wangui had made the calls requesting for special
treatment for the Armenians.

According to Mr Latoya, Ms Wangui had always been referred to as Winnie
Mwai for the three years he has worked at the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs and the tag pinned to the door of her office bore that name.

She is among the 11 government officials who were suspended shortly
after the Artur brothers and two of their associates were spirited
out of the country following a dramatic incident at JKIA.

During the incident, the brothers and their associates had engaged
Customs officers in a standoff over a demand that duty be paid for
seven closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras.

The witness told the commission that the luggage belonged to "Margaryan
and Pattni."

Yesterday Mr Latoya told the commission that Ms Wangui had called him
at least six times seeking to know whether the Artur brothers and their
guests were comfortable and whether they had been cleared to leave.

The testimony became the first to link Ms Wangui to the Armenians in
evidence at the public inquiry, which enters its 10th sitting today.

The commission has been told that the two brothers earlier on March 13,
made their way to the Government VIP lounge for a Press conference,
whose authority had been given by Kenya Airports Authority deputy
managing director Naomi Cidi.