FPE: ABSENCE OF EFFICIENT MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM (EMIS) CONDUIT TO THE CANCEROUS PILFERAGE.

Dear Sir/madam, Donors provide funding on condition that the assistance they give is in line with their overall policies. It is also true that they have to spend their funds according to the agreements made, and the need to be sure that a programme achieves its intended objectives. This is because all donors are accountable to the public opinion in their respective countries. That is why donors would try as much as possible to influence programmes` methodology in accordance to their values and principles. It is thus paramount that the implementation of a donor funded programme is based on an acknowledgement and balancing of possible conflicting motives and interests. If this is not done, then the programme risks becoming a contest between the Government and the donor at the expense of the interests of the “target group”, yet in practice and intent the interests of the target group ought to have the highest priority. It is therefore the public`s expectation that as development partners, DFID and the Kenya Government have to put in place shared Efficient Management Information System (EMIS) vital for the implementation of the FPE programme for a timely and smooth flow of information to policy makers, planners, donors, managers and other stakeholders at all levels of this fund. In the absence of EMIS, as is apparently the case in the MoBE, timely monitoring, evaluation and even auditing of the said funds is rarely a priority. It is only through EMIS, that the public would be spared the never ending circus characterized by self denials, threats, accusations and counter accusations from the MoBE over alleged embezzlement and misappropriation of this very sensitive fund. Professor Ongeri must be advised that it is useless to doubt the authenticity and validity of the DFID`s report when it is very clear that in the absence of EMIS, the Ministry is professionally handicapped to effectively discharge its duties with respect to the FPE fund. The failure of the Minister and his Permanent Secretary to put in place EMIS has created a perfect conduit for the never ending pilferage in the Ministry. It puzzles many that the Minister for Basic Education appears to be vindicating the technocrats in whose jurisdiction the alleged misappropriation or embezzlement of FPE funds took place while largely letting the investigation center on those whose departments are far removed from the alleged corruption. This can only be a pointer to the fact that what is under investigation is not the alleged corruption. I have a hunch that the investigation may be targeting those within the ministry who may have deliberately fed DFID with the “wrong information.” The Minister and his Permanent Secretary must be advised to stop engaging in chicanery and neither should they project themselves as arrogant ignominies. Instead of the Minister declaring emphatically that there is no question of him resigning in response to the current snowballing corruption that has dogged the Ministry, he should consider stepping down in the interest of the millions of the children whose future is unashamedly being stolen by the callous technocrats. TOME FRANCIS, BUMULA CONSTITUENCY. http://twitter.com/tomefrancis