Advocacy & campaigns

Citizens’ statement in support of US Government withholding FPE funds

Bunge La Mwananchi

2010-01-28, Issue 467

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/advocacy/61814

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We the citizens of Kenya wish to issue this statement in support of the decision by the United States Government to withhold funds that had been earmarked towards Kenya’s Free Primary Education programme. As aggrieved citizens we agree and demand that those responsible for the misappropriation of free education funds not only be dismissed from office but be held accountable to the full extent of the law.

We wish to categorically state that:

- It behoves the holder of any office, especially public office, to be and stand accountable for resources entrusted to them in carrying out their duties. The responsibility for the running of the Ministry of Education and the application of funds allocated to it lies squarely with Minister Professor Sam Ongeri and his Permanent Secretary Professor Karega Mutahi and they must therefore step up and face the consequences for their wanting leadership.

- Since the alarm on the misappropriated funds was not sounded by the Miinister and his PS but by persons outside the ministry, it is a loud indictment they are not doing what they are supposed to be doing in their capacity as the principals of the education ministry. The Constitution of Kenya, the Government Financial Management Act and the Public Procurement and Disposal Act espouse the principle of transparency and accountability by obligating financial administrators, including ministers and their permanent secretaries to maintain proper records and adhere to financial guidelines and regulations.

- If indeed they are not culpable as they wish us to believe, the only noble and patriotic thing left for Professors Ongeri and Mutahi to do, is to step aside and allow free and independent investigations to be undertaken at the Ministry. They clearly cannot preside over the audit of the Ministry and are a hindrance to independent investigations by remaining in charge of any evidence available at the Ministry.

- Kenyans are gravely concerned and wish to remind our leaders that the disappearance of funds meant for our children’s education is but a part of the wider issues that bedevil the education ministry. Symptoms of such deeper problems have manifested repeatedly in the past in the form of student strikes, teacher strikes, rampant exam leakage and cheating, imbalanced admission process to secondary schools, mal-administered public schools, substance abuse and promiscuity amongst students and even sexual abuse of students by their teachers.

We wish to state further that:

- Kenyans are relentless in their war against impunity and corruption in Kenya and it is for this reason that we support the US and the UK Governments’ actions of withholding any further funds towards free primary education, although our children and poor parents who depended on this programme remain the innocent victims.

- Kenyans are cognisant of the fact that these funds are not free and are therefore very keen that any debt incurred by our Government on our behalf be managed and administered in a transparent and accountable manner.

- Kenyans are anxious that no more money should be poured into FPE unless and until a proper financial and management system is in place to ensure that the money is appropriately utilised.

We hereby demand as follows:

- That Professor Sam Ongeri and Permanent Secretary Karega Mutahi step aside with immediate effect and allow independent investigations to take place.

- That the Government embarks on an urgent and immediate complete overhaul of the education ministry. This can begin with the excusing from duty of the two professors who have apparently been overwhelmed by the docket’s mandate.

- That the President and the Prime Minister take a definitive and decisive action in this matter because if cannot and do not, their inaction makes them in our eyes complicit actors in the ongoing impunity and corruption. It is a high time that our leadership took notice of our discontent with the state of affairs and Kenyans wish to remind them that we will not tolerate the continued running of our country’s affairs in such a haphazard and rough shod manner. This FPE fiasco is indicative of Kenya’s ongoing political leadership problem since the Minister and his PS are political appointees. We are looking to the two principals to show leadership and give us firm guidelines on the way forward.

- That the funds earmarked for free primary education be traced and retrieved and the perpetrators be dealt with to the full extent of the law.

We renew our call for urgent and immediate action by Kenyans as the war against impunity can only be won battle by battle. It has been historically apparent to us that our leadership remains unresponsive to Kenyans’ real life, real time issues unless we are dramatic in making our demands upon them. We therefore call upon fellow Kenyans and the whole of the civil society to join the war against impunity and corruption by loudly dramatising our contempt of the misappropriation of public funds.

We also call upon friends of Kenya and the wider diplomatic community to show solidarity with us and the US and UK governments in demanding transparency and accountability from our leaders.

The country’s future lies in the hands of this crucial ministry and if the Minister Ongeri and PS Mutahi cannot match up to the job at hand, Kenyans shall not hesitate to kick them out of office by any means available to us as we have done in the past with other corrupt leaders.

If no concrete and decisive action is taken in the next few days, Kenyans will be left with no option but to employ mass action countrywide and paralyse operations unless and until something happens towards dealing with the matter of the missing funds.

We urge and rally Kenyans towards unrelenting resistance of the culture of impunity and corruption in Kenya.

George Nyongesa

For Bunge la Mwananchi
Website: www.bungelamwananchi.com
+254 720 451 235

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