Why should taxpayers refund stolen money?

The government has decided to refund to donor funds lost through alleged corruption in the free primary education project.

Some Sh164 was returned to the British Government early this week. But indications are that the sums being refunded to Britain, the World Bank and other bilateral donors actually come to nearly Sh400 million.

Another Sh2 billion is being refunded in respect of the Education for all Fast Track Initiative, and another Sh100 million for various other donor-funded development projects.

On the tainted Kazi kwa Vijana initiative, it appears the government has decided to refund the entire first disbursement of nearly Sh1 billion from the World Bank after an audit unearthed cases of misuse of funds.

Meanwhile, as the issue generated political heat in and outside parliament, the government was apparently moving to cancel the biggest component — Sh4.3 billion for labour-intensive works — of the Kenya Youth Empowerment Project, and re-assign the funds to other youth jobs projects.

It is not clear why the government took such drastic action with the final report still awaited on the questionable expenditure.

However, these refunds amount to serious setbacks for noble projects. They also signal a trend where the government concedes that donor funds are being stolen, and undertakes to make repayments.

There are promises that the refunds will be recovered from the culprits.

It is a cardinal principle that the tab for graft must not be passed on to the public.

All government officials found to have misused or stolen public funds must be forced to pay back every cent, in addition to whatever other penalties the law may impose.