I was wrong: They should not resign

I was wrong. Calling for the resignations of Prof Sam Ongeri and Prof James Ole Kiyiapi because of the allegations levelled against the Ministry of Education's officials before the investigations were completed was wrong. In fact, even calling for the resignation of the former Permanent secretary, Prof Karega Mutahi, before these investigations were completed was wrong. It was wrong also to presume that because Prof Yash Pal Ghai and Prof PLO Lumumba had raised serious questions about Keriako Tobiko's candidature for the position of DPP warranted the withdrawal of his name from consideration by both the JSC and the CIOC. The reasons why iI am reversing myself have nothing to do with the concept of persons taking responsibility for the sins of omission or commission of officers serving under them or the records of their past service, but on the realisation that in Kenya, accusations are used to score political scores and not to find the truth.

It was Prof Mutahi who brought about this change of tone when he questioned the rationale behind the demands for his resignation. As he tells it, the calls for his resignation are not motivated by a desire to trace where funds meant for the Kenya Education Sector Support Programme have been diverted to, but to score political points by using his name in a campaign against someone else. The same rationale could be applied when one considers the allegations that were made against Mr Tobiko; the allegations were barely supported by any evidence, and it was left to observers to either believe or disbelieve his accusers based on their perceived public profiles, that is, Prof Ghai's stature as the former Chairman of the Constitution of Kenya Review Commission and Prof Lumumba's as it's Secretary and, today, the Director of the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission.

It has become fashionable to call for Cabinet Ministers to bear political responsibility for the scandals that erupt in their ministries, usually taken to mean that they should resign to "allow full and impartial" investigations into the scandals. rather than relying on the President, and the Prime Minister to some extent, to set the pace regarding how and when Cabinet Members will be relieved of their duties, other politicians and members of civil society call for action without considering the political fallout of their demands. This is not the United States or the United Kingdom where government has evolved to such a point where scandal almost always leads to resignation. many are pointing to the recent resignation of Anthony Wiener, a Republican Representative from New York, who resigned his position in the House of Representatives due to a sex scandal that erupted because of his foolishness on Twitter, but ignore the fact that in Kenya the information available to the public regarding the KESSP swindle is what the Minister for Finance and members of civil society say it is. We have had no independent opportunity to corroborate the facts that are emerging on a daily basis, and therefore, we cannot possibly say that we are making informed demands of our politicians and civil servants.

Our tendency to call for action absent any verifiable proof has been used by interested parties, including politicians and wannabe politicians, to cast the accused in a bad light, perpetuating the siege mentality of members of certain communities. As a result, ordinary Kenyans are being used as cannon fodder in the war between sitting and ousted political actors. The effects have been to polarise the country along ethnic lines every time a major swindle takes place. Very rarely do the resignations lead to full and impartial investigations; rather, quite frequently, the investigations tend to drag on for years without being resolved. Persons like the Director of KACC have no business calling for the resignations of Cabinet Ministers or Permanent Secretaries where impartial investigations have not been concluded. Regardless of the perception that impunity is being protected, until all our institutions start playing by the same rules, it is wrong to call for the resignations of the Ministers and their Permanent Secretaries who have been in charge when allegations of graft have arisen in their ministries.