Imprudent use of public funds is Kenya's undoing

President Uhuru Kenyatta flew back into the country last Tuesday after what has been billed as a massively successful trip to Russia and China. The President's engagement with the Chinese is particularly worthy of note granted the billions of shillings Beijing has extended to Kenya for investment in various projects aimed at improving the economy.

News of this funding has touched off so much ecstasy among a section of Kenyans with some commentators describing the president's move as a feat unrivaled in its magnitude and reach. This jubilation is, however, in my view, misplaced and largely springs from a misapprehension of facts. What appears to have escaped the attention of many is that the Sh425 billion is a loan and not a grant.

Before China extended this loan to Kenya, our national debt stood at Sh1.9 trillion or thereabout. With the additional Sh425 billion from China, the debt has moved to Sh2.3 trillion. It is true that if the Sh425 billion will be put to the intended use, Kenya is bound to reap pleasantly. Our dilapidated infrastructure will certainly receive a serious face-lift. The standards of living for a significant number of Kenyans will in all likelihood improve.

But if recent developments in regard to handling of public funds are anything to go by, Kenyans have more than enough reasons to worry that a substantial portion of the funds from China may as well find their way into a few privileged individual pockets. Cases of financial malpractice among people holding public office have been on the increase.

The Judicial Service Commission's recent move to send the Judiciary's Chief Registrar Gladys Boss Shollei on compulsory leave has brought to the fore information hitherto unknown to many. Kenyans have, for instance, learned with a measure of incredulity that members of the Judicial Service Commission, who are allegedly serving on part time basis, take home as much as Sh1.6 million a month. Last year, the JSC reportedly held 247 meetings, with each commissioner earning Sh80,000 in allowances per meeting.

Not long ago, one of the commissioners, now famed for his arrogance and delusional sense of importance, penned an article in a leading Sunday newspaper in which he poured cold water on constitutional commissions terming them as an unnecessary burden to the taxpayer. He went on to suggest that, like the JSC, the commissioners in the numerous constitutional commissions should serve on part time basis and should be reduced to a bear minimum. This, according to him, would cut down on the costs of running them and save funds to be utilised on other pressing issues. It is almost unbelievable that this same commissioner who is allegedly serving on part time basis may be earning more than what commissioners serving on full time basis take home at the end of the month.

On the heels of the profligacy obtaining in the JSC, Kenya's notoriously rapacious legislators are again scheming to push their monthly pay upwards. Plans are underway to amend Article 260 of the constitution to exclude MPs from the definition of state officers. This amendment is aimed at giving MPs a free hand in increasing their pay as and when they feel like. And even before this amendment, the legislators are already scheming to increase their monthly pay from Sh1.2 million to Sh1.4 million. In an astute move aimed at gaining support from the Judiciary and county governments, the legislators are also proposing a massive increment in the allowances paid to judges, magistrates and members of the county assemblies.

By the same token, Suba MP John Mbadi is in the process of introducing a Bill on retirement benefits for top government officials in the House. The Retirement Benefits (Deputy President and Designated State Officers) Bill 2013, if passed will see former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, former Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka and other top officials each earn between Sh49 million and Sh85 million a year in retirement perks. This amount includes what is to be spend on paying staff assigned to them and other services. Using the minimum amount, Sh49 million, to compute what these top officials will be earning monthly, it translates to about Sh4.1 million. If you take the maximum amount, Sh85 million, the monthly package comes to about Sh7.1 million.

Looking at this unmitigated extravagance, it is hard to believe that Kenya is a third world country. The question many Kenyans are asking is, where will the money to pay these salaries, allowances and retirement benefits come from? And even if we can afford to pay all these benefits what will be spend on development projects geared towards making the lives of the majority better?

My suggestion is that MPs should step back and rethink their push for more and more money. A salary and allowances totaling to Sh1.2 million a month is already too high for a country like Kenya. The government should also put in place measures to ensure that public funds are put to good use. Strictly enforcing laws that criminalise misappropriation of public funds, such as the Public Officer Ethics Act, will go a long way in curbing embezzlement of public resources.

This article was published in the Star newspaper on Saturday 31st August 2013
 

Hypocrisy and graft are the pervasive features of Kenyan politics

Jacob Juma, one of the directors of Cortec Mining company, has accused cabinet secretary Najib Balala of cancelling a licence issued to the company after being denied a bribe of Sh80 million. In a swift rejoinder, Balala has vociferously denied Juma's allegations terming them as a perfect case of 'corruption fighting back'.

I have no idea who between Juma and Balala is telling us the truth. As things presently stand, we can only await the outcome of the investigations that have been launched into the issue by the Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission, assuming they will not be bungled, before establishing the veracity or otherwise of Juma's sensational claims.

What is, nonetheless, not in dispute is that hypocrisy and giving and taking of bribes are not alien to Kenyan politics. Shady deals, involving millions of shillings, between influential politicians and leading businessmen keen on clinching lucrative government contracts and other favours are a pervasive feature of Kenyan politics. Right from the summit down to the lowest level of our politics, bribery and raw hypocrisy are part and parcel of the game.

In the early 1990s, a leading Dubai-based businessman, Nassir Ibrahim Ali arrived in Kenya keen on convincing the Kenyan government to permit him to run duty free shops at Kenya's international airports. On sharing his dream with a Mombasa-based tycoon with connections to the president, Ali was advised to pay the Head of State a courtesy call and make his offer. According to his revelations, in quasi-judicial proceedings after the deal went sour, he was, however, advised not to meet the president empty handed. Consequently, he stashed a briefcase with US$2 million and made his way to the president's residence.

On reaching the home, Ali was instructed to place the briefcase at a certain location in the compound and told to pick it from the same point on his way out. True, as he left after meeting the big man, he found the briefcase at the point where he had left it. It had, however, been emptied of the money and filled with green maize. Ali later on argued that there was nothing reprehensible with this and that his was a lawful gift to the president. But whichever way Ali or anyone else may want to look at it, this was corruption and trying to cloth it in some nice-sounding phrases does not change the fact that it is graft.

And then there is the story of former Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka. Two weeks ago, the former VP and Wiper party leader was interviewed by a leading newspaper. In the interview Kalonzo opened up on an array of issues. He, for instance, made it clear that he still has so much to offer this country and he is not just about to vacate the political stage. He also took issue with former President Mwai Kibaki for having tricked him into joining his government after the disputed 2007 general election with a promise to support his(Kalonzo's) candidature for the presidency in the 2013 general election. Kalonzo blamed the former president for having reneged on this promise.

But it is his sentiments in regard to former Prime Minister Raila Odinga and the controversial 2007 general election that exposed the hypocrisy that is the bane of Kenyan politics. Kalonzo termed Raila as 'a strong person' whose victory in the presidential race has been stolen twice. He argued that Raila won both the 2007 and 2013 general elections but he was robbed of his victory. Now, shortly after the 2007 elections, Kalonzo's party entered an alliance with President Kibaki's Party of National Unity. This saw Kalonzo appointed Vice President and two of his cronies were made ministers.

Once in office and despite the violence that was sweeping across the country like a tornado, pursuant to cries of rigging from Raila's Orange Democratic Movement, Kalonzo became the defender-in-chief of President Kibaki's 'victory'. He told anyone who cared to listen that President Kibaki had won the election and if aggrieved, ODM had the option of seeking recourse in the courts of law. When the international community moved in to help quell the raging violence and restore normalcy, Kalonzo opined that Kenyans were capable of putting their house in order and that it was too early for the international community to step in.

Yet this is the same guy who is now telling us that Raila won the 2007 elections. Why did he join the Kibaki administration as VP when, in his heart of hearts, he knew that Raila had beaten Kibaki? It is not lost to Kenyans that in the run up to the 2007 general election, Kalonzo, while on the campaign trail, repeatedly told his listeners that he will 'pass in the middle' of Raila and Kibaki. This was despite overwhelming evidence that Raila and Kibaki were the front-runners and there was no way Kalonzo could win the presidency. Was his joining an illegitimate government a validation of this promise? The inference is inescapable that even before the disputed polls, Kalonzo knew something that the rest of us didn't.

But who can blame him any way? As aforementioned, hypocrisy, wheeler-dealing, bribery and a litany of other ills are part and parcel of Kenyan politics. This is perhaps the reason why clean people can hardly survive in the filthy waters of Kenyan politics. Professor Patrice Lumumba, PLO, was indeed right in opining that there's an urgent need to introduce some hygiene in Kenyan politics.

This article was published in the Star newspaper of August 17, 2013