It leaves me speechless, but I write anyway …

The United States Ambassador to Kenya, Mr. Michael Ranneberger, announced yesterday that the US is also suspending its educational support for Kenya, along with the UK, until there are some answers on the ever-hovering (drifting?) education scandal (see prior blog).

The US initiative is going to cost Kenya’s primary school children roughly seven million dollars (532 Million Shillings) in further absent schoolbooks and texts. This must be counted along with the 1.2 Billion Kenya Shillings that has already been suspended by DFID in the UK.

He said (and I don’t quote) that the monies will not be forthcoming until there is a proper audit of the billions in primary education funds (from DFID, the US and the Kenya taxpayer) that have gone missing. He added that the US grant monies would not be made available until the perpetrators have not only been fired but are sitting behind bars for their criminal behaviour. Cheers, I say. It’s about time.

Meantime, the education minister is still in his job (despite overwhelming support for him being at least suspended) and is prancing around town, smiling and making jokes – most notably with Uhuru Kenyatta (he of the multiple ‘typing errors’) – and, would you believe, saying that Kenya will actually be fine without the funding.  He also said that the actual amount in question is slightly less than 100 Million Shillings. A small thing he says …

Dear Honourable Minister, is this supposed to exonerate (or at least minimize) your likely guilt in the matter?

A forensic audit of the education budget has been performed (at least, we are told so), but the results of this are not being released for some undisclosed reason.

Of course, Kenya’s intrepid journalists have not followed any of this up.

Someone said last night on the news that it is going to be very hard to get to the bottom of things when all the files that are necessary to establishing guilt in the matter are still in the hands of the implicated parties (or have already been ‘lost’ somewhere).

Words fail me. (Remember, nothing has so far been computerized in Kenya’s government circles, for reasons I have already blog-mentioned).

The obvious misappropriation of these education funds – and the lack of any legal follow-up - leaves me with a very serious question as to the role of the police in this country. Traffic wardens, mainly, and thugs, secondarily ….

Why do I say this?

Yesterday it was reported that a school principal has been accused of raping a 14 year old pupil at his ‘upcountry’ school.  This is his fourth or fifth ‘alleged’ incident of ‘defilement’. He even admits he has a sex problem. The issue of arrest and prosecution for rape has not appeared anywhere in the press or TV news.

Instead, a question was asked of TV viewers last night as whether they thought the education authorities would be adequately able to deal with the issue. 85% of text messages coming into the TV station said “No”!  I genuinely, truly, utterly and completely can’t believe the involvement of the police in the matter is entirely absent…. Clearly, rape and paedophilia are not criminal offences in Kenya …

And another story about the police (or lack thereof) … A woman from some outlying area on Sunday asked a few members of the Administration Police (the main thugs in Kenya) to ‘discipline’ her 32 year old son who was tending to be a little rude to her. She paid them Ksh500 for their forthcoming effort (but it was ostensibly to pay for taxi fare 100m up the road).

By the next morning the young man was found in handcuffs, dead on the floor of a police holding cell. His mum is obviously mortified. But I guess, in a way, she got what was coming to her for her initial request.

There has been NO – I mean NO – suggestion of an investigation into the matter. The police are just let off the hook (what hook?) via a statement saying that it was simply a matter of ‘sudden death’. No postmortem. No inquest. Not even the pretense of an 'investigation'. Certainly no arrests. And, thanks to those same intrepid journalists mentioned above, no further reportage.

If there is anything that is going to have me leave this beautiful country, it’s this kind of thing. It’s actually beyond comprehension that millions can be openly stolen, children raped, young men mercilessly killed – all without any mention being made of investigations or police follow-up. And the people of Kenya just take it ... 

"Let's have another Tusker folks ...."

And as for the role of the police in Kenya ? … I really have no idea other than the obvious one: Thugs, keeping the real criminals in power ....   

B-)

Reasons and responsibilities

It started off looking like I was entirely wrong about the Education Ministry’s embezzlement of primary school education funding, and the amount involved was a mere 100 million Shillings (see blog: “In-DFID-ent ..”). I was mortified – nay, slightly embarrassed - that perhaps I had quoted the wrong figure. I mean, 100 million Shillings is only 1.Something million Dollars! That’s a very small thing in Kenyan corruption terms. Hardly worth mentioning actually …

But now the truth is out, and it seems I didn’t mishear the original report from DFID. Yes, the education corruption scandal has seen the theft from Kenya’s kids of a mere 10 billion Shillings (only 133 million US Dollars!). I guess it is not such a small thing …

Of course, Permanent Secretary Karega pleads absolute innocence as the does the (very) Honorable Minister for Education Ongeri. Again asked their views in polled opinion on KTN, a small 83% of Kenyans say the two gents are lying about their innocence. The remaining 17% of SMS’s were probably paid for, to be sent in the Ministry’s favour.

But coming hot on the heels of this scandal comes another:  This time it involves the alleged payment to ‘Big Fish’ of various huge sums of money. This, for the vacation of (illegally ‘invaded’) land in the (now decimated) Mau Forest (land that is being reclaimed for its ecosystemic importance).

Minister of Finance, Uhuru Kenyatta, flatly denies that this payment is being effected.

But can he really be believed? He escaped, unscathed, with a 10 million Shilling ‘typing error’ in his first budget. Actually, there have been two ‘typing errors’ in his recent tenure as Minister of Finance. I cannot even remember the details of the second one. He is also accused of more recent shepherding of a ‘preferential’ tendering process in the supply of 140-something new VW Passat’s to government’s 42 Ministries (the highest number of ministries in the world).  

So I am sure his denial of Mau payments is true.

(Note: ‘Typing errors’ can occur because government is not computerized here. This due to a concerted avoidance of technologies that will permit ‘paper trails’ to be found for any and all transactions).  

But denials, and other jokes aside, I almost get the idea that the Kenya government actually pursues new scandals with great vigour. This, so that the previous scandal simply disappears from the news (as always seems to happen!). No sooner has one scandal hit the streets than another comes up. And the story of the first scandal gets lost forever in yellowed newsprint on Kenya’s kitchen shelves.

It is so easy to do here, and wouldn’t that be an amazing strategy:

Government of Kenya 101:

1.) You shall steal from the people of Kenya

2.) To get away with one huge scandal, simply create another that is even bigger!

3.) Then call on rafiki sana (our good friends), the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (sic), to ‘investigate the matter’.

4.) Go back to 1.)

But the point is this, really: One scandal is simply replaced by another. There’s never any follow up of these, from any quarter:

Surely, one could hardly expect honest follow up from this government. They are all in on the act.

And the KACC remains a joke for now.

But it leads me to question seriously the integrity, tenacity and investigative skill of journalists in this fair country too. And do not tell me that journalists are ‘threatened’. That is what is supposed to happen with journalists. Especially in a country that needs the ’winds of change’ (from wherever they blow) so desperately.  Journalists have a social, moral and very ‘civic’ responsibility to pursue these issues with great zeal and energy.  But I don’t see any of this here.

I used to read South Africa’s Weekly Mail (now Mail and Guardian) every week. It was a serious force for change during its early days and remains an important source of the facts in an increasingly corrupt South Africa.

Kenya? Journalists gani?

Journalists win substantial international awards and gain international recognition for serious investigative work. But I am not packing a Kenyan flag for any ceremony just yet …

 Sure, the public have a responsibility to act and agitate as well. But the channels are simply not there. Youth ‘movements’ in Kenya have historically been controlled by The State. But John Githongo says it’s all changing.

I chatted with some senior members of Bunge la Mwananchi (‘The Peoples Parliament’) the other night. They are inspired for sure. And motivated to do something.

But what?

They don’t see ‘avenues’ for expression at all. Hey, where’s the “spirit of adventure” guys? Even my simple suggestion of Kiswahili sticker-slogans - to stick on every matatu - was met with undue surprise. Come on ...

Sheesh, I remember unlawful marches in the streets. I remember baton charges on campus lawns. I saw live rounds being fired at close range. I saw friends knocked from their feet by dogs and water cannons. I remember tear gas tossed at anti-Apartheid concerts. I remember a church, wrapped up like a present, with a bow, on the bleak landscape of District 6. I remember the security police searching my red Datsun (with the letters ‘KGB’ in the number plate). I remember Terror Lekota, in hiding and ‘on the run’, staying at various safe houses in our village.

I remember, too, kitambo sana (a long time ago), when Soweto erupted, and when Steve Biko died. When David Webster was assassinated and when Neil Aggett disappeared from his house. I remember when Tokyo Sexwale was assassinated too. There were others. Sana.

But I also remember, very very well, the day that Madiba got out. And I watched it live on ITV, London. And I remember ‘coming home’ and standing for hours to vote. For the man I most admire today.

Kenya, you are “as mad as hell”. Surely.

But when will you say: “… AND WE’RE NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANY MORE!”

Kenya, anything is possible “for an idea whose time has come” …

Your time has come.

Maybe one day (as I once heard) someone will say “we’re a mile wide and a hundred people deep. Shoot me, and there will be others”.

But, right now, the journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step …

Kenya? Future gani?

Amani na upendo,

B=))

Happy Christmas all.

In-DFID-ent to Childrens' Education

Today (Tuesday 15^th December), the UK’s international development fund, DFID, announced it has suspended further support for education in Kenya. It is withholding quite a few billion shillings until the Kenya government can account for the few billion that has so far disappeared. This while kids all over Kenya are trying to get an education without textbooks.

This is what I meant a while ago about Kenya’s government stealing from the people – and this time it’s their children! I seriously suspect this is the first of many such changes in the future funding of Kenyan politicians and government officials. Changes are coming but it's the people that are going to suffer, not the politicians!

And President Kibaki today got on a plane to Copenhagen. He’s going to lecture the international community about climate change, no doubt in order to ask for money again. Just like Prof. Saitoti and the urgent need for police reform (see below).

Asked whether DFID should reconsider its position, a whopping 69% of Kenyans who texted their response to KTN News said no, DFID was right in their withholding of funds!

One viewer commented:

“Asking the Kenya Government to administer funds for education is like asking a hyena to look after your sheep”

The Kenya people know exactly what’s going on. They have seen it for years and years. The question is WHAT ARE THEY GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?

Sheesh. I just don't know how Kenyan officials (of any description) can even show their faces in public ....

B-)