Behind the British MPs expense scandal

By Ruona Agbroko

April 4, 2010 10:19AM
Ben Leapman* is dressed formally and frequently fiddles with glassware as he talks to South Africa's top journalists and academics at the upscale Rand Club in Johannesburg.

Mr. Leapman, Deputy News Editor of the Sunday Telegraph, was one of three journalists who fought a five-year battle to have MPs expenses disclosed under Britain's Freedom of Information Act.

His passion for his job is obvious as one gushing, inquiring guest takes the place of yet another. And another.

I have had not much trouble getting this interview, other than waiting for the horde of fans and his two-day speaking schedule to ease up. Since I haven't been told to talk to a PA, dribbled about or told to submit my questions beforehand, I begin to wonder if it is actually Ben Leapman I will be interviewing.

When he finally has time for our impromptu interview, I can just see the middle of his head of curly hair from where I am, standing next to him in kitten heels. He looks like British musician Simply Red, without the flaming hair colour or the freckles and comes off as quite ordinary, actually. But as Britain's Members of Parliament (MPs)-and the rest of the world-now know, Mr. Leapman is the poster-boy for the words "never judge a book by its cover."

In the beginning

Mr. Leapman tells NEXT his investigation into lawmakers' misuse of taxpayers' money began as far back as 2004 when Britain's Freedom of Information Act was about to be made law.

"The Act was going to force public bodies including parliament to disclose all information. At that point in 2004 the House of Commons published some information about how much MPs claim in expenses for their second homes. They did this because they hoped it meant that when 2005 came and the new law came in, then they wouldn't have to release any more information," Mr. Leapman explained.

Apparently, there were more questions than answers.

"It told you how much each MP was claiming but not what they were spending the money on. And it seemed that some of the MPs that didn't really need the money were claiming the full amount. And I didn't know why, and there was no way of finding out why at that stage."

Mr. Leapman says he was further alarmed when he called an MP who gave no explanations other than; "that's just the rule, old boy; that's what we're allowed to do."

But he had to wait until 2005 to "send a letter under the powers of the new legislation asking for fuller details of the MPs spending."

He was not the only one bothered. Two other journalists had also put in requests asking for details of the expenses claimed by certain MPs to be released, with Mr. Leapman being the only one who went a step further by seeking the publication of MPs' second-home addresses. All the world knew was that The Information Commissioner bunched the cases together and ruled in their favour, asking that some information be disclosed.

However, Mr. Leapman says behind the scenes, things were not so encouraging; "It took the Commissioner two years to grant our request. In that time, he never once called me, or spoke to me, but had meetings with the House of Commons."

The House of Commons not only labelled the ruling "unlawfully intrusive", it also tried to seek an amendment of the Bill, aiming to exempt lawmakers' expenses from being made public. However, an internal dispute among opposition parties and mounting public disapproval conspired against this.

The House of Commons finally bowed to a subsequent High Court verdict, and announced in April 2009 that the publication of expenses, with certain information deemed "sensitive" removed, would be made in July 2009.

Getting the scoop
The House of Commons needn't have bothered. On April 27, 2009, one of several disgruntled employees processing the expenses files for censorship before their intended publication by Parliament handed all the details to Mr. Leapman's paper.

The Daily Telegraph gathered 45 people including reporters, lawyers, designers and sub-editors into a room at its headquarters and swore them to secrecy. The team went through about 19,000 documents each day and the paper would kick off its devastating series of scoops on 8th of May 2009, just 11 days later.

No Expenses Spared, a book by two journalists who worked on the Telegraph team also revealed that other newspapers had missed out on the scoop because they were interested in one particular party while the whistleblower wanted an all or nothing approach.

Mr. Leapman tells NEXT that the interest of the public was the only motivation behind the Daily Telegraph's method of publication; "We wanted to expose all of the parties. If parliament had had its way, all 650 MPs would have had their expenses published on the same day and for the public that would have been less satisfactory, because it would mean less scrutiny. By pushing all that information out at once, there would have been less focus on the wrong doers and a fixation on prominent MPs. In fact, some of the backbencher MPs had the biggest scandals; that's where the famous duck house claim came from. Whether it was Labour first or Lib Dem second, we needed to do it a bit at a time because that allowed for greater scrutiny."

‘It was quite a scary couple of days'

"People were writing, calling and emailing in their thousands daily to say ‘well done to the Telegraph, it is a scandal, the MPs should not be claiming all this," Mr. Leapman recalls. But as the world cheered the Daily Telegraph on, he admits to NEXT that the journalists were far from comfortable.

"On the very first day of publication there was a big concern amongst myself and my fellow journalists at The Telegraph that the police were going to raid our offices and come in and arrest journalists. It was quite a scary couple of days."

Michael Martin, the Speaker of the House of Commons asked that an investigation be launched by the London Metropolitan Police over how The Telegraph got the information, rather than what the information revealed. The police shortly after, announced it would do no such thing. Mr. Leapman says the weight of public opinion apparently prevailed.

"There was a very strong public reaction against the politicians and in favour of the information being published. I think at that point, the government realised that by sending the police to make arrests of Telegraph journalists, it would have made it look much worse; if the police started arresting journalists for exposing politicians, the government would have been in much more trouble than it already was."

Nigeria's FOI Bill

Mr. Leapman hardly bats an eyelid when told about Nigeria's Freedom of Information Bill, which is yet to be passed as law, for ten years running. In fact, his shoulders lift in a shrug.

"My feeling on that is that there will always be politicians who are very nervous of passing FOI bills because clearly Freedom of Information laws are useful to members of the public and to the press to expose scandals and misspending by politicians or senior public figures. There will always be politicians who try to stop such bills becoming law, even in the British Parliament they tried to prevent this from becoming law.

"I think it's important for the public and the press in Nigeria to campaign on that and continue to insist that this is an essential part of legislation to democracy which needs to go through-and quickly."

Threats?

Slight in build, and frequently smiling, Mr. Leapman looks harmless. I ask if he knows he would be easy to tackle and whether he has gotten threats. He laughs heartily, saying; "I have not had anything worse than going out and having a few MPs saying; ‘Look who's coming along, don't talk to him' to one another."

In reply to my involuntary expressions of surprise, he insists; "That's as bad as it gets really because British politics is quite genteel, and you don't tend to get too much violence or real threats as in other parts of the world. We could never have published stories like this one in other places because there wouldn't even be legislation to enable you get the information or the intimidation would be more. But the British press is lucky compared to journalists in most parts of the world."

Fallout of the MPs Scandal

Days after the House of Commons finally released heavily "blacked out" details of the MPs expenses the Daily Telegraph published a 68-page supplement. Mr. Leapman says but for the paper, taxpayers would never know that a male MP went as far as claiming expenses on female sanitary products, and other such ludicrous claims that were withheld for fear of embarrassment.

Also, for the first time in 300 years, the Speaker of the House of Commons resigned, while 392 MPs are almost done repaying about £1.12m.

But it hasn't all been bleak or all about the MPs.

Mr. Leapman says Heather Brooke, one of the journalists also involved the landmark case has written her accounts of the MPs scandal; The Silent State was published on April 1. Also, both Leapman and Brooke were characters played by actors in "On Expenses", a BBC 4 real-life drama which was broadcast on February 23, this year.

"For myself and the other two journalists who put in the first Freedom of Information requests, we obviously all wanted the story to ourselves as a scoop and at the end, the Daily Telegraph got the big scoop so to that extent, there were professional jealousies, but ultimately what was really important was to expose this to the public and that is what has happened," Mr. Leapman told NEXT.

It would seem the professional jealousies were justified. The Telegraph titles sold over 60, 000 copies more than usual everyday, while The Guardian UK weighed in on the scoop to launch its "Investigate your MPs expenses" online campaign which saw 20, 440 unique readers review 170, 000 documents in the first 80 hours. That was not all; six days after the Telegraph started its expose, the BBC political and current affairs television programme Question Time had its highest viewer figures of 3.8 million in 30 years.

I ask Mr. Leapman if he is professionally jealous. His curls flick about briefly as he shakes his head no.

"The fact that other news organizations were doing other things on the MPs expenses shows the issue remains topical and is in the safe hands of the British press," he answers, between smiles.

The smiles turn into outright laughter when I ask what he thinks of Jeremy Swift, the renowned British actor who played him in the BBC Four drama.

"Oh, he looks vaguely like me," Mr. Leapman replies without missing a beat.


*Photo credit: www.telegraph.co.uk

FIRST PUBLISHED IN NEXT NEWSPAPER, NIGERIA: http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/News/World/5549457-146/story.csp

Nigerians get wired over Cabinet nominees

RUONA AGBROKO | JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - Mar 25 2010 17:09

They say the quickest way to know your family history is to run for office in Nigeria. Or have your name forwarded to the Senate as a ministerial nominee, as it turns out.

On Wednesday, Nigeria's acting President Goodluck Jonathan revealed a new Cabinet list comprising 33 names, nine of which were former ministers.

Within hours, Nigerians took to the cyber streets and hacked the list to pieces.

Lilian Agbaso wrote on the Facebook page of one local political activist: "Why is it the same old tired cheesecakes on the list?? Some of these people have done 3 -- 4 terms as ministers already!! Common sense dictates that if they were that good before we won’t [sic] be here as a country today."

Ubong Ekpe Okon wrote a suggestion to the acting president on the website of a leading Nigerian newspaper. "My suggestions: Goodluck, please make another round of millionaires and leave those ones."

As news organisations and profiles on social media networks began to dig up the dirt, Nigerians emerged from around the world to give the ministerial nominees a virtual flashback of their personal and political history.

Josephine Anenih, the wife of a once-influential member of the ruling party, was reminded that she had a thief for a husband, as he had "looted billions earmarked for road rehabilitation" -- and for which her husband has been indicted. Another reader identified a widely-reported incident where she "impudently slapped" a certain gentleman over a senatorial ticket. Next came the charge that Anenih is estranged from her husband, which of course failed to assuage the mob. "Is being estranged from her husband enough proof that she is not part of the PDP [Peoples Democratic Party] rot?" one reader asked.

But then Anenih was far from alone.

Fidelia Njeze received flack for going from running a pharmacy in eastern Nigeria to becoming a junior minister for defence in a country of 150-million people and, later, ending up as a junior minister for agriculture under the ailing President Umaru Yar'Adua. Labaran Maku was mentioned as being the deputy under a governor arrested over alleged fraudulent award of contracts and stealing of public funds estimated at N15-billion.

Chris Ogiemwonyi's wife was listed as being a close associate of Jonathan, which, the poster alleged, made his nomination possible.

But more than merely dishing dirt and having a good vent, Nigerians are increasingly taking advantage of the anonymity, reach and impact of social media to make themselves heard, against a long history of political impunity.

Nigerians are making the most of this online opportunity to ensure they are no longer merely witnesses to democracy. They are now using the internet and its social network to successfully gatecrash their way into it.

Nefarious nominees?
But these readers are not merely being emotional.

In June of 2008, several newspapers reported on a parliamentary indictment of Allison-Madueke for withdrawing $263-million in unspent government money within six days, just hours to the country's 2007 fiscal year-end.

She was one of 16 government officials subsequently recommended for prosecution over mismanagement of public funds, alongside Anenih’s husband in a report issued by the Senate in October 2009 following the probe.

A closer look at the new nominees also brings up several curios. Ten have either been junior ministers or been handpicked into office at various levels, while others have varying degrees of political and even filial connections to the ruling party.

Full list of nominees

Emmanuel Iheanacho was rejected as a ministerial nominee in President Yar’Adua's last major Cabinet reshuffle when youth leaders in his home state claimed his nomination was against the political zoning formula of the state. He gets a foot in the door this time, it seems. Then there is Murtala Yar'Adua, the ailing president’s nephew. " ... a Yar'Adua in the Cabinet to compensate the family for losing the presidency due to ill health?? We are all jokers ... there should be blood in the streets with a list like this," Dissapointed-in-Lagos wrote on the local newspaper website, NEXT.

Bala Mohammed also made the list. He's a serving senator and leader of the National Interest Group, a pressure group of lawmakers, whose actions resulted in an unprecedented move that enabled Goodluck Jonathan run the country in place of Yar'Adua.

Umar Sani offered the acting president some belated advice the Facebook forum; " ... all he needed to do was to award contracts to these people on the list so they can leave him alone to appoint credible people on the basis of merit."

But it is most likely the urgency of online outrage from individuals and news agencies from within, as well as outside Nigeria, which has prompted its senators to make landmark decisions.

For the first time in the country’s 50-year history, the Senate will break convention and hold a plenary session on a Monday to screen the 33 ministerial nominees. The process, usually in form of oral interviews, will also be aired live on daytime TV.

The same lawmakers who came under public criticism for going on a month-long recess while Nigeria’s lecturers were on strike last year have postponed their Easter holiday by one week will be working to ensure there are no leadership vacuums.

Deleting the Constitution
But while these decisions had Nigerians rejoicing over a much-sought inclination of lawmakers towards true democracy, by Thursday morning things were not so bright.

Nigerian papers reported this morning that the Senate "voted to delete an aspect of the Nigerian Constitution which prohibits people indicted for various offences from contesting elections". That removes Section 137 (1i) which prohibits people who have been "indicted for embezzlement or fraud" by state or federal panels of enquiry or tribunals from running for presidential office.

According to local reports, the deputy senate president defended the decision before journalists yesterday by saying the clause was being exploited by politicians to witch-hunt their opponents.

But they didn't stop there. Seventy-three of Nigeria's senators also voted for a removal of clauses that prohibit lawmakers from cross carpeting, leaving Section 68 (1g) out of play, a stipulation which says federal legislators who choose to leave whatever political party brought them to power must vacate office unless there is a division in that party.

While the nation is still yet to digest this latest twist in plot, a spokesperson for the Senate told journalists that "returnee ministers will be taking more questions based on their performance during their stewardship. Everybody will answer questions on what he or she has done or failed to do."

That may be the only way for the lawmakers to redeem their image in the public eye as Monday's historic ministerial screening goes live.

But Nigeria's senators won’t be doing only themselves a favour. Looking back on recent protests, pockets of ethno-religious violence and ahead to the increasing online and offline anger of the citizens of Africa's most popular nation, enduring a public airing of their personal and political skeletons should be the least of their worries.



•Ruona Agbroko is a Nigerian journalist and the 2010 Niall Fitzgerald scholar studying Journalism at Wits University

Source: Mail & Guardian Online
Web Address: http://www.mg.co.za/article/2010-03-25-nigerians-get-wired-over-cabinet-nominees

Lady Keke Marwa

By Ruona Agbroko
May 30, 2009 06:16PMT

If the world is indeed a place where "what a man can do, a woman can do better", then Lagos is probably the city where "what a man can do...the economic situation is forcing women to do better."
Justina Moshood [pictured], a native of Abbi, Delta State, is one of such women. I arrived at Mushin market to meet her slim frame spread on the tarred road, underneath her commercial tricycle, or Keke Marwa as more widely known.

Undeterred by the blazing midday sun or the peculiar smells of the crowd and fruit being sold nearby, Moshood tinkers with her engine, as grime and grit rapidly turn her nails black.
I move aside each time she emerges to push her Keke Marwa and maintain its place on the queue for passengers. ‘Why don't you just get in?' she points out, as though to a child. ‘My throttle cable is bad' she adds, erroneously assuming I know what a throttle cable is.
As she runs from wheel to bonnet, Mrs. Moshood speaks.

"I was the first woman here. Today we are just three. I started doing the Keke Marwa business two years ago because I was tired of credit. I stopped being a sewing mistress because too many customers owed me money. You know how women can be. In this one, immediately you enter, you pay my fee or you get down," the 42 year-old smiles.

Fear of agberos
Understandably, her husband of 19 years voiced his reservations at first.
"He was afraid of agberos (touts). I told him once you register your route, pay your daily working fare, everything is fine," she said.
With funds from her local thrift society, Mrs. Moshood spent ₦300,000 on getting her tricycle and a further ₦50,000 on vehicle and route registration, as well as a driving instructor. She pays a daily working fare of ₦600 to "our council" but says earning ₦5,000 to ₦3,000 for about eight hours work (6:30 am to 3pm) more than makes up for this.
The only downside is "unnecessary police harassment," she said.
"Definitely my husband is happy about my work. I get home in time to rest, cook and take care of my three children. I have even been interviewed by the BBC, though I don't see that as a big thing...but he did", she chuckles mischievously.
One of the boys
Mrs. Moshood often stops her sentences to exchange greetings (and hilariously lewd jokes) with the men at the park, who she insists "are all my friends."

"They asked me to come and join this route (Mushin to Ilasamaja) from my old route at Iyana-Isolo to Jakande. It is the men who are my passengers that are my biggest headache. Some ask me ‘are you not a woman? What do you need all that money for?'

These are things they would not try with men! Even, a boy as young as my son slapped me twice one early morning because I did not have ₦950 change for his ₦50 fee. That boy will not prosper in life", she curses repeatedly, for the remainder of the interview.

I point out to her that men do have their uses too; a certain Tunde and Ope, her colleagues at the park, are the ones who end up fixing the throttle cable. Moshood revs the engine, gathering enough dust to leave me longing for soap and water. She hurries off with another load of passengers, only sparing time for a distant goodbye wave.