Theft of Sh4.6bn for poor pupils leaves Ongeri clutching at straws
The grey-haired professor in a familiar green suit spent the better part of last Thursday morning pacing up and down the corridors of Parliament.
Education minister Samson Kegengo Ongeri was clearly a man on a mission as he went about trying to forestall the storm he knew would blow his way later in the day.
The man who always has a ready smile, even when he bears the saddest of news, looked rather grave, subdued and weather-beaten.
First, he cornered PNU deputy whip Jeremiah Kioni, and they were spotted in a long and deep discussion.
He then sought the ear of Budalang’i MP Ababu Namwamba, with whom he stood at the foot of the stairs leading to the committee rooms, also in deep discussion.
“My friend, everywhere I go, people are thinking ‘this is a thief’. Nisaidieni jamani. I need your help here,” he told Mr Namwamba.
The Nyaribari Masaba MP has found himself in a bind from which he is unlikely to emerge unbruised.
For the second time, the minister is accused of gambling with the education of millions of poor children following the theft Sh4.6 billion meant for the Kenya Education Sector Support Programme.
The disappearance of the funds threatens the future of free primary education in Kenya as some donors, notably|Britain, demanding the refund of its Sh7 billion contribution to the programme.
The revelation has raised questions about the minister’s competence and put his career on the line.
Theft of education cash, cheating on national examinations and the irregular hiring of staff have disgraced the ministry under Prof Ongeri’s watch.
A hue and cry went up in 2008 over the handling of the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examination that saw the results of 4,438 candidates from 857 schools recalled for “slight adjustments”.
The loss of funds has effectively turned the spotlight on the commitment President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga to fighting corruption and enforcing Chapter Six of the Constitution which demands accountability and integrity from state officials.
Angry parents have called for a cleanup in the ministry.
In February last year the Prime Minister “suspended” Prof Ongeri over the misuse of funds in the ministry, but the President overturned the decision. Prof Ongeri read ill motive in Mr Odinga’s “suspension” and asked him to stop “behaving like any other heckler.”
Will the minister survive this time round? The odds are heavily tilted against him. Mr Odinga and Kenya Anti- Corruption Commission boss Prof PLO Lumumba and the Kenya National Association of Parents have asked the minister to resign or be fired.
Konoin MP Julius Koech said Parliament’s committee on Education will investigate the matter.
“You cannot continue to preside over a herd of animals where animals continue to disappear and you don’t take responsibility,” Prof Lumumba said.
But, predictably, Prof Ongeri cried foul saying the revelations were made by his political detractors and put the figure of the lost cash at Sh4.2 billion.
“My conscience is free and clear, and I have done the best to my ability. Nowhere in the report has my name been mentioned. I realise that, this being an election year, some people might be out to besmirch my name,” he said.
Incidentally, the audit was released by the Finance ministry which is headed by Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, a strong voice in PNU and chairman of Kanu, Prof Ongeri’s party.
And the Sunday Nation has learnt that members of Prof Ongeri’s community have been mobilised to rise in his defence. People claiming to be his friends have been lobbying selected journalists and MPs to come to his rescue, arguing he was not privy to the theft.
But educationist Thomas Nyagaka Nyakang’i asked the minister not to drag the Abagusii into the issue, saying mobilisation of ethnic support would blur legitimate questions of individual accountability.
“If that were the case, Prof Ongeri would be considered an embarrassment to the community. The minister should explain to Kenyans who is responsible for the corruption network which is siphoning off cash for the education of poor children,” he said.
“The money may have been stolen by bureaucrats but, as the head of the ministry, he is accountable for what happens.”
The minister has said the bulk of the money was stolen before he assumed the docket in 2008 and that he ordered the audit himself.
“This is a matter I have dutifully resolved to solve, and it would appear a case of the proverbial hunter has become the hunted.”
But he sounded unconvincing in Parliament and was cut short by temporary Speaker Ekwee Ethuro who ordered him get his figures in order and report back to the House.
Prof Ongeri is yet to have his day with the MPs, but with the House on recess, he might get some time to cool off.
Nicknamed Obongo (brainy) by his constituents, the paediatrician is one of the highly educated Cabinet ministers and the seniormost politician from Nyanza in the PNU wing of the grand coalition government.
After the 2007 elections, he was the surprise inclusion in the PNU team of negotiators during the Kofi Annan-led mediation talks following the 2008 violence. He is President Kibaki’s pointman in the larger Kisii. That is why the push for his resignation puts the President in a fix.
By sacking him, President Kibaki would not only have pulled down one of his strongest pillars in Nyanza but also antagonised a section of the Abagusii who voted for him in the disputed 2007 election.
Prof Ongeri is one of the President Daniel Moi-era stalwarts who found themselves a place in the Kibaki government.
The minister had a special relationship with the Mois, having been their family physician.
His friends say the professor “loves being in government” and interacting with the high and mighty.
An incident in which he was captured on TV making frantic efforts to shake President Kibaki’s hand during the 2007 election campaign became the theme for wags who exploited it to highlight the desperation of former MPs struggling to return to Parliament. He had been kicked out in 2002 courtesy of the Ford-People wave in Gusii land.
But come 2007, he joined hands with former Roads minister Simeon Nyachae, then the Abagusii kingpin, to campaign for President Kibaki’s re-election in 2007.
But he has been accused of failure to fit into Mr Nyachae’s shoes. The same charges have been levelled against Public Works minister Chris Obure, the well-oiled Odinga ally always keen to avoid controversy but known to exert his political weight behind the scenes.
Dr Tom Namwamba, a lecturer at Kenyatta University, reckons Prof Ongeri’s sacking is unlikely to injure President Kibaki’s fortunes because the minister “is not a political zone of convergence in Gusii country.”
“Prof Ongeri is a man on his own. He is not any regional figurehead such as (Eldoret MP William) Ruto or (Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru) Kenyatta.”
But at home, constituents credit him with spearheading the expansion of roads and education institutions.
“Each of the 32 sub-locations gets a good share of bursary fund. Water is running in our taps, and no student is out of school for lack of fees,” said Mark Siko, an educationist and a key supporter of Prof Ongeri.
“There are several other ministers in such situations, but people are only targeting Prof Ongeri. Why are they not talking of Prof Nyong’o, whose ministry was subject of an audit?” Mr Siko asked.
