Kenya’s P.M. Calls For Resignation of Top Education Ministry Officials
Raila Odinga - Tough Action
The Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, today called for the country’s Education Minister Sam Ongeri and his Permanent Secretary, Karega Mutahi to quit their offices over disappearance of more than US$1.3 million (KSh100 million) meant for free primary education (FPE) funds. Addressing a workshop for permanent secretaries and parastatal executives at the Kenya Institute of Administration (KIA) in Nairobi, the PM said he had recommended to the President to direct the education officials to step down. The PM was categorical that the buck stopped with the top leadership of the ministries. “Do not blame your subordinates. Do not blame the donors. Do not blame the Press. The buck stops with you,” said Mr. Odinga.
The one-day workshop for the PSs and the country’s top executives on strategies to eliminate corruption on public service was summoned by President Mwai Kibaki on Thursday. “Kenyans are losing trust in public institutions. International donors too are losing confidence. The four aid agencies that fund the primary education in our country collectively have set four conditions to resume their funding” the PM observed in his official and off-cuff address. On Thursday, the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) headed by Dr. Bony Khalwale, a Member of Parliament from Western Kenya had urged the Mr. Odinga to speak out on the corruption scandals in the ministry of Education. The PAC made the call at a meeting in Parliament buildings with the permanent secretary in the office of the Prime Minister, Dr Mohammed Isahakia.
Dr. Khalwale, said; “whereas President Kibaki had ordered investigations into the FPE scandal, we as the Parliamentary corruption watchdog ask the Prime Minister as the coordinator of government functions to speak out on this vice.” Today, the PM said he would direct the Permanent Secretary for Performance Contracting to revise all existing contracts and insert a clause that will see government officials step down over serious malpractices. “The clause should stipulate that once the ministry as a whole or individual units in it are charged with serious malpractices, the person who heads the ministry or the units involved automatically and voluntarily step down, irrespective of whether he or she is directly implicated in that case” Raila added. The meeting also focused on the steps being taken to streamline government procurement systems that are occasionally prone to corruption.
It was a show of government might at KIA as the President and PM spoke from the same script on the need, as an urgent step to address the rising cases of corruption in the coalition government. He continued: “If your ministry fails, or your staff fails, you take responsibility. If you, or your ministry lose confidence of the public, then you can no longer serve the public.” Noting that the FPE scandal had brought a major confidence crisis in government, the PM lambasted Prof Ongeri and his PS for their “we did not know about it, so we are not responsible” statement, which the two made when the questions were raised over the free learning theft. “People ask how can it be? People do not believe in what the senior officials tell them,” said the PM. Prof Mutahi later declined to comment on the PM’s statement.
In perhaps the strongest vow to fight the vice in government, the two leaders told the accounting officers that they ought to fight the vice or take a walk if they did not believe in the fight against the vice. “If you are thinking of making a little money [through corruption], you should be working somewhere else, not in the government,” said President Kibaki. “Help us (fight corruption), if you are not capable of helping us, then do not complain when we send you home.” The President banned the importation of expensive furniture for government offices and directed the PS’s to go for locally-made furniture to help boost job creation for the youth. “There should be no argument about that,” he said. The coalition government has been rocked with major scandals in the Ministry of Education, with revelations that Sh110 million was lost in the Free Primary Education scandal. The Daily Nation, this week, also exposed how books worth Sh1.7 billion were stolen over a six-year period. The books were procured using FPE funds.
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