Destroying cartels must be part and parcel of President’s drive for efficiency

The people of Kenya elected the Jubilee Coalition which, in turn, formed the government for the singular purpose of delivering services to the public; services which are due to them because they pay taxes and because government is tasked with delivering them. Now, witness the following.

When called out over the shambolic and incompetent management of Kenya’s team to the just-concluded Rio Olympics, Sports Cabinet Secretary Hassan Wario blamed the sordid mess on a cartel in the athletics fraternity. Indeed, he said, he was himself a victim of the cartel. Put another way, the CS was saying he had been rendered ineffective by this cartel.

When under fire this and last year over the siphoning of public money via the National Youth Service, then Devolution Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru blamed her troubles on a cartel that was keen to see her back so that it could continue to call the tune in denying Kenyans the services they craved and which she was delivering.

Facing the vetting panel of the Judicial Service Commission in his bid to become Kenya’s next Chief Justice last week, Court of Appeal Judge Alnashir Visram pledged to fight corruption and rid the judicial system of cartels. He said he was aware that the cartels have been intimidating judges but they would not have it easy with him.

Two months ago as students set fire to public boarding secondary schools around the country, Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i was clear that the arson was instigated by the cartels he had put out of business by sealing loopholes through which they leaked national examinations and fleeced the public through exorbitant pricing of books.

CORRUPT DEALS

As Cabinet Secretary for Lands, Mrs Charity Ngilu said she had put cartels at Ardhi House in her crosshairs. She blamed the cartels for all manner of fraudulent and corrupt deals, which was why she was digitising the registry to put them out of commission once and for all. When she was sacked last year, she blamed her troubles and eventual exit on cartels.

One more, though there are plenty left: “The changes we have made are going to ensure that we improve services in City Hall. One of the key things we want to ensure happens is the destruction of cartels within the county. These changes have been made to ensure that these cartels are a thing of the past.” That is Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero speaking this year.

Cartels intimidate judges and render Cabinet Secretaries ineffective. They make it difficult for the capital’s Governor to render services to Nairobians. They leak exams and cause dormitories to be razed in order that they may have their way. You are here looking at senior officers of the national and county governments crippled by cartels.
Now what are cartels? When producers of a good or service come together and decide when they will produce the good or render service and at what cost, that is called a cartel.

Therefore cartels are not formed in the public interest. They selfishly and unapologetically serve the interests of members.

SUBVERT JUSTICE

They could, therefore, decide the quality, quantity and availability of the good and service. They could hold those who need the goods and services to ransom. But are the cartels in government offices producers? Most peddle influence; some produce, but most are parasitic on the services and goods that public offices produce and render, and yet others exist to control or hinder the services to the public for their aggrandisement and that of their clients.

In the courts they interfere with and subvert justice at the expense of the poor and the deserving. Regarding tenders they influence the bidding processes in favour of themselves and their clients. Leakers distort examination results and grading and the value of certificates for the benefit of a few and to the detriment of many.

Cartels are, therefore, anti-people, which means they are anti-government, impeding as they do the government from serving the citizenry. Cartels, therefore, exist because they have the backing of top people in government. That is what makes them that powerful as to intimidate ministers and judges. Therefore cartels are government within government.

So, when ministers, judges and governors are helpless and hopeless before cartels, who will ordinary people turn to for help and hope? The President.

Destroying cartels must be part and parcel of his drive for efficient delivery of services to Kenyans. In this, ministers should not be allowed to hide their incompetence in existence of cartels in their dockets.

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