In what is clearly an indictment on the much touted Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS), the Auditor General’s report for financial year 2015/2016 outlines how state corporations paid billions of shillings for ghost projects, inflated contract prices and violated clear procurement laws.
It is an expression of the disdain public office holders have for the law and the dictates of accountability that despite numerous other reports of sleaze and wastage of public funds by the Auditor General, it has been business as usual as if the reports were minor bumps on the gravy train to be ignored as the eating continues. Yet that has negatively impacted service delivery and perpetrated corruption, a vice that continues to receive more lip service than action.
Billions of shillings received from the Treasury to fund air transport, cheap power, education, quality healthcare, water, infrastructure and energy cannot be accounted for. The education sector is in shambles; what with lecturers and teachers constantly on strike. The same applies to the medical sector where the government is applying cosmetic solutions to deep-seated problems, mostly regarding staffing and remuneration of doctors, clinical officers and nurses. Despite assurances by President Uhuru Kenyatta that the power costs would come down, they are yet to come down, yet there are funds allocated to make such promises a reality. Sadly, unscrupulous individuals have committed to make the common man’s life a misery.
Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) has been singled out for awarding tenders worth billions of shillings, then terminating them after fraudulently paying for work not done.
It would be dishonest to say this limits itself to KAA when a road like the Kakamega – Webuye Road that remains in a state of excavation since 2014 even though the contractor is said to have received his payment stands out like a sore thumb. Promises by Deputy President William Ruto that work will resume are yet to be actualized months later.
The National Hospital Insurance Fund and the National Social Security Fund haven’t escaped the spotlight for misuse of public funds even as their efficiency in service delivery raises eyebrows. The Judicial Service Commission members stand accused of pocketing allowances that are not accounted for. Only one word sums up everything; corruption and theft.
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission has its work cut out for it, but will it deliver, or will it find a place to hide as has been the case before?
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