KENYAN LEADER SEEKS RE-ELECTION !

Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki has launched his re-election campaign, saying he deserves a second term on the basis of the improved economy.
But there was no mention of his anti- corruption war which has failed to make much impact, despite being a central plank of his 2002 election triumph.
Meanwhile, UK police have confirmed they are investigating Anglo Leasing, one of Kenya's biggest graft inquiries.
Recent opinion polls show Mr Kibaki is trailing the opposition's Raila Odinga.
Mr Kibaki told 40,000 supporters in the capital's Nyayo Stadium he deserved a second term on the basis of the improved economy.
Kenya is currently enjoying annual growth of an estimated 6.1%.
"Tell the people of Kenya the truth, that Kenya is better than it was five years ago, and will be far better off five years from now under the Party of National Unity," he said.
To resounding cheers, Mr Kibaki also promised free secondary education for all.
Three opinion polls commissioned by the Kenyan newspaper, the Daily Nation, show Raila Odinga, the presidential candidate for the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), leading Mr Kibaki by several percentage points.
Mr Kibaki came to office on an anti-corruption platform but his administration has failed to bring to justice those responsible for some of the most notorious scandals, the Goldenberg and Anglo Leasing scams, which diverted huge sums from the exchequer into officials' back pockets.
The scandal is now back in the headlines with the Guardian newspaper in London reporting that Britain's Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has begun a new investigation into the movement of millions of dollars linked to the Anglo Leasing fraud, involving British offshore bank accounts.
The SFO told the BBC news website: "Working with the assistance of the City of London police and the Kenyan Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC), the SFO decided on 13 July to investigate a number of contracts between the Kenyan government and the business entities collectively known as Anglo-Leasing."
According to the Guardian, the SFO is looking into accounts in the tax havens of Jersey and Guernsey, from which more than $30m were allegedly transferred to a company called Apex Finance between April 2002 and February 2004, at the request of Kenyan nationals Rashmi Kamani and Deepak Kamani.
Both the Kamani brothers are wanted by Kenyan police and are on the run.

Politics and the war on graft

The newspaper says a suspicious activity report was made to the Guernsey financial intelligence service after the publication in March 2004 of a report by the former Kenyan anti-corruption chief John Githongo.
The SFO says it does not name suspects as a matter of policy and will not comment on the investigation at this stage.
Last week, the president referred back to parliament a law approved by MPs which would have made it almost impossible to prosecute financial crimes by public officials committed before 2003.
The bill, passed by MPs earlier this month, would also have stopped elected officials from having to declare their assets.
The president has now sent the bill back to parliament asking for changes to clauses which would have prevented the Kenya Anti-Corruption Council (KACC) from pursuing prosecutions into the Goldenberg and Anglo Leasing scandals.
Meanwhile, foreign envoys in Kenya have expressed fears over a possible change of guard at the electoral commission ahead of the elections.
The term of the electoral commission chairman Samuel Kivuitu and his deputy Gabriel Mukele comes to an end in December just before elections are held.
German ambassador Walter Lindner said although President Kibaki has the powers to appoint the head of the commission, replacing an experienced team just before the elections would be worrying.
BBC NEWS REPORT.