Kibaki, Raila talk tough on graft

Education minister Sam Ongeri and his Permanent Secretary, Prof Karega Mutahi, on Friday came under pressure from the top to resign over the scandal of free school funds.

Prime Minister Raila Odinga said he had recommended to President Kibaki that the two senior officials step down. Speaking at a high-level meeting of government officials at Kenya Institute of Administration, Mr Odinga was categorical that the buck stopped with the top leadership of ministries.

“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,” said Mr Odinga.

Serving the public

As he spoke, Prof Karega Mutahi sat with a side of his face buried in the palm of his left hand, perhaps aware that he was the target. “If your ministry fails, or your staff fails, you take responsibility. If you, or your ministry, lose confidence of the public, then you can no longer serve the public.”

The FPE scandal in which up to Sh100 million in public funds had been stolen, Mr Odinga said, had brought a major confidence crisis in government. He criticised Prof Ongeri and his PS for their “we did not know about it, so we are not responsible” statement, which the two made when the questions were raised over the free learning theft. “People ask how can it be? People do not believe in what the senior officials tell them,” said the PM.

In response later on Friday, Ongeri accused the PM of using the issue to demonise a section of the coalition government. He accused the PM of trying to portray PNU members as inept and corrupt. “Such a statement is not only embarrassing to come from a person of the PM’s stature but is also meant to play to the public gallery to achieve a hidden political agenda,” Prof Ongeri added.

President Kibaki and Mr Odinga told the meeting of permanent secretaries, parastatal chiefs, directors, secretaries, provincial commissioners and university bosses that they must take responsibility for scandals in government.

No second chance

In perhaps the strongest vow to fight the vice, Mr Kibaki and Mr Odinga told the accounting officers that they ought to fight the vice or take a walk. “If you are thinking of making little money (through corruption), you should be working somewhere else, not in the government,” said President Kibaki.

The President banned the importation of expensive furniture for government offices and directed the PS’s to go for locally-made furniture to help boost job creation for the youth. “There should be no argument about that,” he said.

That officers implicated in the vice will not have a second chance in government was also clear from the President’s speech: “We’ll not allow the practice where corrupt officers are transferred from ministry to ministry to spread the vice of corruption.”

Besides, the Prime Minister sought to de-politicise the fight against corruption by having an integrity scorecard as part of work objectives for all public officers under performance contracting. The Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission was also in hot soup as Mr Odinga termed it a “parking lot of cases.” He said that a “responsible government does not wait until a KACC ruling or a court verdict.”

He added: “... prompt resolution of any charges cannot be expected at KACC under the current circumstances. Cases after cases are piling up at KACC, and the public no longer regards KACC as an effective anti-corruption instrument.” Mr Odinga designated the Efficiency Monitoring Unit, which falls under his office, to be the “neutral” investigator in government corruption.

Having learnt from the stonewalling of government departments whenever they are on the spot over corruption, like was the case with the external audit on the National Cereals and Produce Board maize scandal, Mr Odinga said a Cabinet memo from his office will create a liaison officer to help ease the work for external auditors into government’s malfeasance.

Internal Security Minister, Prof George Saitoti, who attended the meeting together with his PS Francis Kimemia, were also on the PM’s firing line over the Narok arms cache. “What was it (the cache) doing in Mr Munir’s house in Narok? How did it leave the factory?” It was all tough talk at the meeting, with Mr Odinga ending on a terse note that “ambivalence and double speak” will not be tolerated.

Public Service Minister Dalmas Otieno had set the tone of the meeting saying the “phase of lip-service” was over and that time was ripe to “have saints” in the civil service. “If you do not already feel convinced that something can be done to fight corruption, you can as well leave this meeting,” said the minister.

Head of Civil Service Francis Muthaura, summarised the proceedings saying the meeting will not “dwell on theories” or “new laws” or “new agencies” but was all about the practical steps to fight corruption.