Those who let us down must be punished

The stories we see in our media keep reminding us that whichever way we go, there apparently will always be a very interesting mix between money and politics.

This is a culture that has been cultivated in the past two or three decades and now devolution has made its full effect to be felt. The stories I am talking about are seemingly harmless but their contents have far-reaching implications.

SPORTS CENTRES

Let us look at the one about a project to develop a sports centre in each of the 290 constituencies and a few national ones. Apparently the money has already been allocated. The bone of contention here was that our Members of Parliament want this money channelled through the National Government Constituency Development Fund and not to be run by the government. The interest here is not lost on anyone. Our MPs want to control whatever money has been allocated.

MORE MONEY

Then there was another about governors pushing to be allocated more money from the central government. Now, one of the most interesting results of devolution has been the relationship between the devolved units – read Council of Governors – the National Assembly and the central government.

It has all been about who controls what fund and how much. Of course we heard a lot about many trips abroad aimed at “benchmarking” and the attendant attempts at impeachment of governors that were quite closely related to that.

CANCER PROBLEM

Now we are dealing with other matters of more serious importance for the ordinary Kenyan. Cancer has been a big thing in recent years and actually a lot of Kenyans have lost their lives.

A courageous Member of Parliament came out and said that he has been suffering from brain cancer but now after treatment he is free of it. It came out that there are other MPs who have the same problem. The Speaker even admitted that they have supported a lot of them. Well, at least they have the money.

HEADS ROLL

Can one hope that now that our honourable “leaders” are also as vulnerable as the rest of us then perhaps policymakers and decision-makers will hasten whatever steps that need to be taken to intensify effective and efficient cancer treatment and other matters of social security. But will this happen if the President is complaining that his officers have let him down?

Maybe heads need to roll – certainly those who are failing the system are known – so that the ordinary Kenyans who have no access to hard cash can at least get the services that are due to them by right. That is the only way the “Big Four” agenda makes sense.

Fr Wamugunda is Dean of Students at the University of Nairobi; [email protected]