Karega Mutahi: Why I won’t resign

By Beauttah Omanga

I will not quit — those were the words of embattled Education Permanent Secretary Karega Mutahi, who came out fighting over the alleged embezzlement of over Sh175 million meant for free primary education.

And with that, a defiant Prof Mutahi — who addressed journalists for over an hour on Monday — explained why he would not quit even as he sought to manage the crisis that has put his ministry in a spot.

The PS put up a spirited defence saying he had not squandered a cent of public funds and if he were found culpable, he would either resign or "have God take my life immediately".

He exonerated the minister, Prof Sam Ongeri, who has taken the heat since the matter came to light because Mutahi had travelled abroad, saying the buck stopped at his office as the accounting officer.

"Prof Ongeri or any Assistant Minister are not in any way involved in handling of finances in the ministry. If there are questions, I am the one to answer," he said.

He maintained no funds have been lost, terming the questionable expenditure of Sh9 billion as a "small entry error" by financial department staff.

"The Sh9 billion being quoted by auditors as questionable was merely misplaced. The money was entered on a wrong vote. It was not squandered but well spent," said the PS.

Mutahi’s defence went counter to media reports about audit queries that saw the UK’s Department for International Development (DfID) freeze free primary funds to protest at the theft of the funds.

It also contradicts remarks by Ongeri who last week admitted that money had been lost but scaled down the amount from Sh100 million to Sh59 million.

DfID is withholding £10 million (Sh1.2 billion) funding to the programme, citing massive fraud.

Speaking during the launch of the British High Commission’s anti-corruption brochure 10 days ago, the head of the DfID Kenya and Somalia, Alistair Fernie, insisted on the immediate prosecution of Ministry of Education officials implicated in loss of the over Sh100 million.

The UK, through DfID, has been supporting Kenya Education Sector Support Programme (KESSP), since 2005. DfID has committed £55 million (Sh7 billion) to the programme from 2005-2010. The Government has released Sh48 billion for FPE since inception.

But on Monday, an angry Mutahi said suspended ministry officials had forged documents including signatures of Education Secretary Prof George Godia to collect the monies from the finance department.

Well spent

"Those we suspended returned forged imprest documents. Some never conducted workshops. In one case, we discovered that Godia’s signature was used to collect the monies and yet the Education Secretary never went out to conduct any workshops," said the PS.

Mutahi said he was confident all the billions received by his ministry were well spent contrary to numerous audit queries on the expenditures.

"The audit reports are mere drafts, which are usually subjected to further interrogation by the officials entrusted with the funds. I am the accounting officer of the ministry and I want to assure Kenyans that the millions said to have been lost was all well spent," said the PS.

He then directed his anger at the media accusing them of blowing issues out of proportion by quoting unreliable documents leaked to them by some suspended ministry officials.

"I can account for all funds we have received from the Government and donors. There is no money that has been misappropriated save for the imprests given to the ministry officials," he said.

The PS also defended Director of Basic Education Leah Rotich from accusations that monies under her watch were part of missing funds.

While dismissing the audit and fiduciary reports prepared by Government officials, the PS said the conduct of the officials was suspect.

"The audit and fiduciary reports are not reliable. We are wondering how they sampled the schools they visited and why such reports should be leaked to the media before we finalise analysing them," said the PS.

But to the contrary, Karega is said to have used the same audit reports to suspend some 26 officials.

The PS wondered why the auditors set out to investigate the expenditures concentrated in parts of Kisii where the Minister comes from.

"What did they want to get by focusing on schools in Prof Ongeri’s constituency while there were other regions that had more schools that benefited as compared to those in Kisii?" thundered Karega.

Money recovered

He said all allocations were approved by him, including to schools that had not requested for the assistance adding that "in some cases, we allocated funds on the basis of emergency cases where diseases broke out following an influx of students who were displaced by the post-election violence".

The PS said five of those suspended in September have been cleared; five had no case while 15 are still under investigation.

He said some money had been recovered from those suspended, thereby reducing the questioned Sh100 million.

Said he: "Part of the money that adds up to Sh100 million has been recovered from the officers and the rest will be recovered eventually. As long as I am fighting corruption in this ministry, I am aware all sorts of mud will be directed at me but I will not give up" he said.

He said learning would resume normally contrary to fears that free school will collapse following the suspension of funding by the donors.

"The Government contributes 95 per cent of the total expenditure of the ministry and the donors and other development partners give us only five per cent. There is no way learning will be interrupted," he said.

He said all the funds meant for the ministry were administered from one pool, contrary to reports that the FPE monies were being misdirected to other departments.

The move also comes hot on the heels of a directive by President Kibaki to the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission to carry out through investigations into the scandal.

And last week, the acting KACC Director, Dr John Mutonyi, told journalists that the commission was in possession of evidence that more than Sh100 million had been embezzled.

When The Standard first reported the scam, Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta admitted that the Treasury had discovered that funds were missing, and established an audit team to probe the expenditure.