By Kilemi Mwiria

Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s calls for Sam Ongeri and Karega Mutahi to resign over the Free Primary Education (FPE) crisis have elicited predictable bipartisan reactions.

Corruption will be tough to fight if viewed from partisan party and ethnic positions. That is why some PNU politicians are reminding us that Prof Ongeri and Prof Karega are targets because they are PNU. It does not help that Raila claims Ongeri is his friend; he has many others he could have named for corruption related charges before the FPE saga. In any case, keen PNU supporters are aware that after recent bipartisan fights, their party has lost disproportionately as evidenced by the Kimunya and Ringera cases.

The timing of Raila’s message must have taken into account several considerations. Education is dear to most Kenyans. It is the most significant achievement of the Kibaki era. The donor community is genuinely concerned. They have invested heavily in the sector, have to account to their taxpayers and have flagged Kenya’s free primary education experiment as worth copying by other third world countries. They are right to demand action, although like the Prime Minister, their calls should not be limited to the Education ministry.

The impact of Raila’s message was diluted by the fact other ministers have been linked to serious scandals (maize, oil, Anglo Leasing, grabbing of public land, Goldenberg, Immigration, and irregular appointments of parastatal chiefs). Others have criminal cases in court. Truly, some of these scandals have had a more negative impact on the lives of Kenyans than even the free education one. That is why the two principals, and not just the Prime Minister, should have called on all the affected ministers, heads of parastatals and permanent secretaries to quit Government. This is more persuasive than singling out one or two individuals for blame.

The President and Prime Minister may therefore consider going back to the drawing board to ask questions they did not want to ask of those they appointed to Cabinet and top civil service jobs under the cloudy circumstances of the ethnic clashes and the power sharing deal that resulted. That crisis did not allow for sober reflection such that some of their more extremist supporters – who were not necessarily clean – were the first to be allocated Cabinet slots. Some even chose their ministries.

The possible launch of a new constitution presents Kibaki and Raila with an ideal opportunity to take some drastic measures on the question of who should sit in Cabinet. If the new constitution asks that judges are retired and vetted, it is only fair the Government that passes such a law leads by example. In fact, getting rid of the bad apples could bring Cabinet size to the 25 (and possibly no more than 30 assistants) that is being proposed as affordable even before we have a new constitution. This way, the two principals will have laid predictable ground for future clean and manageable Cabinets and win the backing of Kenya’s majority. In fact, the two are lucky the current Constitution does not require endorsement of their appointments by another authority.

Joint action by Kibaki and Raila should convince even the most doubting Kenyan that no party is holier than the other, that selective blame is dishonest and that targeting politicians mentioned in corruption cases while leaving out those who have had a hand in ethnic clashes and their non-performing buddies is bad for Kenya. Non-performers could be worse than their corrupt colleagues. Kenyans are anxiously waiting for evidence of punishment of guilty power brokers to be convinced that all the hot talk is not mere public relations. Continued inaction is a sure recipe for chaos.

—The writer is an Assistant Minister for Higher Education, Science and Technology and MP for Tigania West.

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