We will leave...when you do..!
Placards and chanting marked the arrival of the Civil Society of Kenya members onto Education minister Sam Ongeri’s Jogoo house door step; the fact that the 2nd floor office was empty did not deter the crowd’s single minded determination. Thus was the scene at the sit in on its second day. The 10 who padlocked the minister’s office door and vowed with whistles and chants of ‘Ongeri must go’ that they would not budge until the beleaguered minister packs up and vacates the office he has held since
So strong was this groups will that not even a 3 hour stint at the Central Police Station could dampen their fervour as they swiftly returned to the business at hand, continuing their camp out saying that they had enough money and food and would forgo their showers for a month if need be.
The free primary education funds scandal was thrust back into the spotlight and public consciousness when the results of an audit conducted by the Treasury were released early last week. Figures in the report showed that officers in the ministry had squandered 4.6 billion shillings-the figure was slightly higher than the 4.2 billion contained in an internal audit released by Uhuru Kenyatta minister of finance and Deputy PM earlier this month. Both audits pointed an accusatory finger at officials in Ongeri’s ministry- all of whom have vehemently denied any involvement in the scam.
This is not the first trial by fire that the Professor has faced in his capacity as Minister of Education. He came within inches of a suspension by the Prime Minister Raila Odinga on February 14th 2010 over graft.
To which the professor thumbed his nose, sat tight and refused to budge… can anyone see a pattern forming here? But it was to be then that Ongeri had one more life in him as the President vetoed the order-to the relied of those in the line of fire.
The bespectacled one from Nyanza was to feel the heat as the World Bank, the British, Canadians and others breathed down not only Ongeri’s neck but also those of the government, demanding that the government refunds to the donors the billions in embezzled funding.
Teachers too have not been left behind in protesting saying ‘the truth shall set us free’ and pleading with those involved to ‘give us the facts’.
The eloquent Anti-corruption tsar PLO Lumumba is another voice urging Ongeri to resign.
He choose to verbalise his disgust of the extent of theft and with the thieves saying of them that ‘they have perfected the art of stealing, the art of theft and as we take them to court they continue to embezzle funds’
All this as president Kibaki cracked the whip and laid down the law last week and it appears that Ongeri and indeed all those guilty of partaking in graft have been put on notice by non-other than the president himself. Whom in this his last term in office wanting to leave behind him ‘the legacy of a functional system of government’ has assured Kenyans more than once that ‘decisive action would be taken against those guilty of misappropriating public funds’.
If I were Ongeri I would get out of the kitchen!
So strong was this groups will that not even a 3 hour stint at the Central Police Station could dampen their fervour as they swiftly returned to the business at hand, continuing their camp out saying that they had enough money and food and would forgo their showers for a month if need be.
The free primary education funds scandal was thrust back into the spotlight and public consciousness when the results of an audit conducted by the Treasury were released early last week. Figures in the report showed that officers in the ministry had squandered 4.6 billion shillings-the figure was slightly higher than the 4.2 billion contained in an internal audit released by Uhuru Kenyatta minister of finance and Deputy PM earlier this month. Both audits pointed an accusatory finger at officials in Ongeri’s ministry- all of whom have vehemently denied any involvement in the scam.
This is not the first trial by fire that the Professor has faced in his capacity as Minister of Education. He came within inches of a suspension by the Prime Minister Raila Odinga on February 14th 2010 over graft.
To which the professor thumbed his nose, sat tight and refused to budge… can anyone see a pattern forming here? But it was to be then that Ongeri had one more life in him as the President vetoed the order-to the relied of those in the line of fire.
The bespectacled one from Nyanza was to feel the heat as the World Bank, the British, Canadians and others breathed down not only Ongeri’s neck but also those of the government, demanding that the government refunds to the donors the billions in embezzled funding.
Teachers too have not been left behind in protesting saying ‘the truth shall set us free’ and pleading with those involved to ‘give us the facts’.
The eloquent Anti-corruption tsar PLO Lumumba is another voice urging Ongeri to resign.
He choose to verbalise his disgust of the extent of theft and with the thieves saying of them that ‘they have perfected the art of stealing, the art of theft and as we take them to court they continue to embezzle funds’
All this as president Kibaki cracked the whip and laid down the law last week and it appears that Ongeri and indeed all those guilty of partaking in graft have been put on notice by non-other than the president himself. Whom in this his last term in office wanting to leave behind him ‘the legacy of a functional system of government’ has assured Kenyans more than once that ‘decisive action would be taken against those guilty of misappropriating public funds’.
If I were Ongeri I would get out of the kitchen!
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