If they are the joke of the world, their budget(the military alone excluding the police) is not a joke. Even without factoring in Uncle Sam's help.
It is only going up as they stock up on invisible materiel
That's not entirely fair
Some of it is visible, but ... Here's an example of some materiel that really excited some Kenyans a couple of years ago and which astonished me:
Kenya takes delivery of 'biggest and baddest' warship yet.
"Kenya's largest and most sophisticated battleship yet sailed into the coastal city of Mombasa Wednesday to pomp and fanfare rolled out by proud military brass."http://www.africareview.com/News/Kenya-spanking-new-battleship/-/979180/1490256/-/1277mny/-/index.htmlThe history of this "biggest and baddest" warship is quite interesting. Way back when, Mr. Anura Perera, of Anglo Leasing fame, signed a contract with GoK for its supply. At the time Githongo issued its report, it was supposedly being built in Spain:
"
The most worrying project was the ongoing construction of a Navy Ship by a Spanish company called Astilleros Godan on behalf of Euromarine which belonged to Anura Perera."
What worried Githongo was that:
"
The navy ship linked to Mr. Anura Perera was organised under a similar arrangement as two of the ostensible financing companies [that] did not appear to exist at their Madrid addresses."
http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/git0602.phpAt any rate, Perera and buddies were paid a handsome chunk of the purchase price, and the construction of the warship supposedly went on. But at some point the heat grew, and it looked like Perera & Co would not get the rest of "their" money. He had over-billed by about $30 million or something like that. Mr. Perera was not amused. He sued.
Here is the good part:
While the legal stuff was going on, Mr. Perera came up with a bright idea: why not sell to the Nigerians the same ship that he had already sold to the Kenyans and for which he and his Kenyan buddies had already pocketed? He had given GoK its chance, and now he had a rusty hulk on his hands. (Of course, he would still want the rest of "his" money from the Kenyans.)
It being Nigeria, the first thing was that there be some eating of chicken. Once that was done, the Nigerians went to take a look at the ship Mr. Perera was proposing to sell them:
.
"The Vessel, codenamed KNS Jasiri, has been docked at a shipyard in Spain since 2005 rusting away with most of its parts malfunctioning".
What happened:
* First, they did not find a fancy warship that somebody had been building. What they found was a refurbished research or fishing vessel onto which someone had been trying to mount guns and so forth.
* It was a rusty wreck that they couldn't even get into first gear and which would require quite a bit of money to fix.
http://africanspotlight.com/2012/02/03/nigerian-navy-to-acquire-kenyas-rejected-vessel-for-n10-billion-upgrade-it-with-25-million/What then happened was very interesting. The Nigerian legislators then started a vigorous debate as to why they should purchase this Kenyan joke, with those who had not got their share of chicken happy to reveal all. On and on they went, revealing details, some of which you will find in the article above.
As soon as the Nigerians started letting out all the details of this Kenyan wreck, details that clearly indicated that Kenyans had been badly conned, GoK decided that the matter needed to be settled. Quickly and quietly. Mr. Perera & Kenyan Friends got the outstanding part of "their" money, whacked a new coat of paint on the ship, oiled the engines, and a few months later Kenya had the "biggest and baddest warship on the East African Coast". The nation beamed with pride.
General Karangi had the final word in the matter:
"
The history of Jasiri is known to Kenyans and all manner of things have been said and happened concerning Jasiri since 2003. It is not our intention to go back in time, this is not the time to say this and that about Jasiri."
Topic: Our security agencies the joke of the world (Read 8920 times)