Choice between Mercedes Benz and Volkswagen Passats, to judge Kenyan ministers’ austerity

The Benz is to be replaced with Volkswagen Passats, which not only cost about two-thirds, the price of a new Benz in Kenya, but are also cheaper to run and maintain. But this being Kenya, controversy has now arisen over why VW Passats and not any other brand, this comes only a few days to the deadline, November 30 of handing over the Benz in exchange of a Passat. Though a number of ministers have handed over the Benz for Passats, still a good number have sworn to cling on the expensive cars insisting that the whole VW issue was not transparent. The bone of contention now remains why all the 126 new Passats came from a single dealer, CMC Motors, which has the Volkswagen license for Kenya and also enjoys strong political connections. The government stands accused why it never ever issued a competitive tender for the cars but this to many Kenyans couldn't be a serious issue, to us this is a delaying tactic by those who do not want to leave their expensive cars, they do not pay taxes yet the taxpayer has to cough millions of dollars for their maintenance so we would be more than happy if first they handed over the Benz and argue from that point may be we would listen then.