FPE: NOW ONGERI VOWS TO VANQUISH WHISTLE BLOWERS.

Dear Sir/Madam, Like most patriotic Kenyans I had one wish for Kenya in 2010. I wished that as a country we should not remain forever only good at condemning corruption as a terrible thing that is quickly corroding our national morality and a sense of fairness. I wished that we will not just stop at drawing rules that will aid us in preventing corruption but that we will begin to walk the talk. I wished that we will not become a generation that is bound to repeat and even perfect the errors of our predecessors. Rather, we shall make it our common resolve to become equal to the severe requirement of jealously guarding our public coffers. But this is far as I went in my New Year wishful thinking before a screamer in one of the local dailies rudely jolted me back to reality. It was an unmistakable warning from the Minister for Basic Education, honorable, Professor Samuel Ongeri. And with this warning, my fervent wish for a corrupt free Kenya was severely dented. Yes, be warned. It is official. From now henceforth, if you are a civil servant and more so an employee of the Ministry of Basic Education or any of its affiliate Commissions, you are now, more than ever before, under obligation not to enjoy the liberties enshrined in the current constitution. This means that your right to enjoy freedom of expression is henceforth permanently curtailed. And you will be made to suffer for standing in the way of the corrupt. You must therefore keep your mouth under lock and key even if the muck in the ministry infringes on the inalienable rights and future of the Kenyan children. Dare you talk about it and you will face a sack. Breathing fire, the Minister was overheard threatening, nay vowing, at a burial service in Nyaribari Chache constituency, that those (civil servants) who are distorting facts about corruption in “his” ministry will be dealt with accordingly. How dare you talk about non existent corruption in FPE, Capacity building and in Infrastructure Development and Procurement vote heads? Admittedly, the minister has immense political powers at his disposal to either use or misuse. He may elect to sack whistle blowers. Unfortunately this will only lend further credence to speculation that he lacks the moral courage to tackle corruption head on. He can go ahead and quote the Public Officer Ethics Act (POEA) or the various Codes of Regulations. However, in so far as the Constitution is concerned, none of these documents to the extent of their inconsistency with any part of the Constitution can reign supreme over the constitution. They cannot take away the right to an individual’s expression more so on an issue as important as the welfare of the Kenyan children. None of them will therefore stop patriotic Kenyans (whether they are civil servants or not) from condemning corruption in the Ministry of Basic Education. Interestingly, KACC as ordered by the President is still investigating the alleged scandal. It has not yet absolved the Minister and his PS from culpability. Any statements they issue now are only aimed at interfering with the work of KACC and are a pointer to his impertinence not only to the president`s directive but also to the public at large. This is why the public demands of him and his Permanent Secretary to voluntarily and honorably resign to pave way for unhindered investigations. It is upon this investigation that the Minister, if absolved, will have the basis of taking the necessary disciplinary action against those he perceives to have deliberately misinformed the public. Sadly, we have to remind these two old jolly professors at the helm of this Ministry, to in future, read good books on management of public resources. Theirs is a social contract to offer quality services to the public. However, this does not in any way imply that they are at liberty to subject Kenyans to their brutish instincts as is the Ministers threat to sack those who disagree with his lackadaisical approach to issues of corruption in the ministry. If the perception in the public domain is that they have failed, then the public has every right to do everything in its power to attack their incompetency. They must be reminded that the man who does not read good books has no advantage over the one who can`t read them at all. Management of public resources must be totally divorced from politics. The two are incompatible as is water and oil. BARASA OKHWA TOME, NAIROBI.