Will Ongeri weather the storm this time?

Like the mythical cat with nine lives, Prof Sam Ongeri has managed to weather several storms.

Even though he has survived the heat so far, the embattled Education minister is finding peace an extremely elusive asset.

In fact, one would say he has not known peace since he was appointed the Education minister on January 8, 2008.

His appointment came amidst a political crisis that threatened to tear the country apart — the disputed presidential election of December 27, 2007.
Ironically, his message to Kenyans posted in the parliamentary website reflects the opposite of his time at the helm of the ministry: “Knowledge is power and integrity and hard work promotes peaceful harmony and reconciliation. Let us seek peace and pursue it.”

Three times within two years, he has been caught in a storm over missing free primary education (FPE) funds and alleged irregularities in the recruitment of 2,500 junior staff at the Ministry of Education.

In late 2009, the minister who has served in Cabinet during the reigns of Presidents Moi and Kibaki, was on the spotlight for presiding over the loss of Sh170 million meant for free primary school learning that year.

Donors, including the British government’s Department for International Development (DfID), stopped funding education programmes in the country through the government.

Resignation demands
Following the suspension of then Education Permanent Secretary Karega Mutahi early last year, focus shifted to Prof Ongeri, with demands for his resignation persisting.

Prime Minister Raila Odinga led the onslaught then, as he has recently done.

“Do not pass the buck. Do not blame your subordinates. Do not blame the donors. Do not blame the press.
The buck stops with you,” Mr Odinga told the minister in February last year.

Pressure also came from Kenyans in the Diaspora.

Ms Judy Miriga, the executive director of the US-based Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc. said: “People, this is your tax money and you must hold your guns to demand that Ongeri and company get out of public office for investigations to be completed.

The investigation must continue while they are out of public office for reasons they are able to tamper and/or forge papers in the office to cover for their misdeed. They are able also to manipulate staff to cover for their corrupt behaviour in public office.”

The minister was saved by President Kibaki after the Prime Minister suspended him, alongside former Agriculture minister William Ruto.

After the defeat of Mr Simeon Nyachae in the 2007 general election, Prof Ongeri, the MP for Nyaribari Masaba, remains President Kibaki’s pointman in Kisii, and Nyanza.

With Ford People’s grip on the Gusii community waning ahead of the 2007 general election, he decided to stick with Kanu and supported President Kibaki for a second term, which paid off when he won.

After spending five years in the political cold, he was appointed to the powerful Education docket in January 2008.

But the trained surgeon has not found it easy handling the Education docket that gets the lion’s share of the national budget annually.

He weathered the storm then before a second scandal involving the recruitment of 2,500 staff for the ministry erupted late last year.
A Treasury audit last year revealed corruption in the recruitment of 2,500 junior staff at the Ministry of Education.

The affected staff were hired as adult education teachers, library assistants, supply chain officers, clerical officers, electricians, artisans, plumbers and storemen.

The Public Service Commission (PSC) had delegated the recruitment to the Education ministry.
Hiring irregularity

PSC reacted to the revelation by ordering the sacking of the new staff.

But this was later shelved after opposition from Kenya National Union of Civil Servants secretary-general Tom Odege.
Despite the orders being set aside, Prof Ongeri once again found himself under fire. Calls for his resignation continued as donors renewed demands that the culprits in the FPE funds scandal face justice.

Like the mythical cat with nine lives, Prof Ongeri once again survived.
But the FPE funds scandal has once again come back to haunt the surgeon. Last Monday, Finance minister Uhuru Kenyatta revealed that Sh4.6 billion meant for free learning had been lost since July 2005.

The Education minister attended the news conference. Perhaps well aware of the backlash that would follow, his body language gave him away — he seemed pretty uneasy.

Calls for him to take political responsibility over the scam have been re-ignited.

Born in 1938, Prof Ongeri studied in Kenya, India and the UK for his degrees in medicine.

He was a lecturer at the University of Nairobi, where he rose to become professor.

Between 1988 and 1992, he served as Minister for Technical Training and Applied Technology after trouncing Dr Hezron Manduku, an ally of former minister Mr Simeon Nyachae to clinch the Nyaribari-Masaba seat.
Power-sharing deal

He was among the PNU negotiators at the Kenya National Dialogue and Reconciliation team under the chairmanship of former UN secretary general Kofi Annan that brokered the power-sharing deal between President Kibaki and Mr Odinga at Nairobi’s Serena Hotel in February 2005.

Other PNU members in the team were Gichugu MP Martha Karua, Sirisia MP Moses Wetang’ula and Justice minister Mutula Kilonzo.

Prof Ongeri is not new to government appointments, having handled Local Authorities and Health ministerial dockets.

He briefly stayed out of mainstream politics after the 1992 General Election and served as University of Nairobi council chairman.
Between 1993 and 1997, he was Kenya’s permanent representative to United Nations Environmental Programme.
He was also the chairman of Athletics Kenya between 1974 and 1984.

The Kanu MP is a long-serving legislator who has been in and out of Parliament in the last two decades.

Will he perform another surgery and remain at the helm, or will President Kibaki act to suspend his trusted lieutenant from the Cabinet?