There is need to intensify war against corruption

Contrary to what many feel, I believe that the war against corruption in Kenya is starting to see some positive green shoots of hope.

The reason is simple: We are witnessing a gathering of momentum in the exposure and investigation of corruption and its various handmaidens such as mismanagement and cronyism.

I use the word “momentum” because Uhuru Kenyatta’s presidency has been marked by many promises to tackle graft but not much implementation zeal.

Where is this momentum? There are a few distinct examples. One is the decision by the Health Cabinet secretary, Dr Cleopa Mailu, to ascertain exactly what is going on in his vast and critically important ministry.

Another is the professional work being conducted by the likes of the Office of the Auditor-General in highlighting and red-flagging inconsistencies and potential areas of fraud.

It is important to point out that over the years, the Office of the Auditor-General has often come under external pressure, particularly when there is insistence to come out with the uncomfortable facts and figures that have been uncovered.

It should be recalled that this office played a crucial role in uncovering the Goldenberg scam and that there was once an attempt to do away with the security of tenure of that office.

With regard to the Ministry of Health, the interim audit findings by the Office of the Auditor-General provide a foundation. This is like a red-flag forensic audit: What does or does not add up, what is potentially overpriced, what has been ordered but not delivered, pending bills, inordinate amounts spent on costs and not enough on actual delivery.

The next stage is a more detailed audit. It is important to emphasise that this is only a means to the overall goal of improving the efficiency, services, and honesty of the government health delivery operation.

LIFESTYLE AUDITS

There are several questions that will arise, particularly about the extent and depth of the exercise.

For example, should it lead to lifestyle audits for a particular category or even a select group? Of course it should. Lifestyle audits highlight public servants who have accumulated inordinately more wealth than their regular income would give them. That, in turn, should lead to vetting.

Another is whether the government has the capacity to do such an exercise effectively and relatively speedily. With due respect to the government, I suspect not.

That leads to a third point, which is whether the government should support and augment its operation with professional external audit support.

If that is needed, then we should go for it. After all, we are wanting, indeed demanding, fast, credible, and efficacious results.

There is the issue of cost here and support for such exercises. True, the resources of the ministry, and the government as a whole, are likely to be grossly overstretched to the extent that the job is not done to the necessary specifications. External financial support should be requested. It falls squarely under the umbrella of good governance and is likely to be assisted.

Last and very important is that the aim of the exercise is to get a better running operation. That means recommendations must be acted upon and implemented.

We are talking about one ministry only. Essentially this is akin to a pilot study on one segment of government. We want the whole body of government to work better so that the public resources feeding it are converted more efficiently into service and greater availability — more patients helped and more essential medicines available in the right places at the right time, more children receiving education with more learning materials available.

Inevitably this will lead to entities outside the government being named and possibly implicated. Of course they should be followed up and, if necessary, investigated as well.

After all, corruption knows few boundaries and involves players within and outside the government.

Mr Shaw is public policy and economic analyst. [email protected]