Resign, and be done with you!

The recent stalemate in the Constitution Implementation Oversight Committee over the nomination and confirmation of Keriako Tobiko, and the Ministry of Finance's revelations over the Kenya Education Sector Support Programme audit, reveal that when it comes to the public good, incumbent office-holders are not beholden to the people but to their sense of importance. When the CIOC failed to unanimously agree on Mr Tobiko as their preferred choice of the DPP, they should not have forwarded his name to Parliament for consideration. Mr Tobiko himself should have realised that the vetting process itself had brought forward Kenyans, some of no mean repute as the former chairman of the Constitution of Kenya Review Commission, Prof Yash pal Ghai and its Secretary, Prof PLO Lumumba, who expressed reservations over Mr Tobiko's nomination as DPP. With a stalemated CIOC and unfavourable reviews from these two among others Mr Tobiko should have withdrawn his name and asked that the process be restarted; it was untenable for him to continue holding onto the chance of being appointed even when doubts, serious ones no less, had been raised about his suitability to hold the position.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Finance had ordered a CID-led audit of the financial records of the Ministry of Education after the funds meant for the Kenya Education Sector Support Programme, better known as the Free Primary Education Programme, were improperly managed, and in some cases, stolen by officials in the Ministry of Education and heads of several of the schools in question. When the scandal first came to light, the Prime Minister attempted to suspend the Minister for Education, Prof Samuel Ongeri, and the then Permanent Secretary, Prof Karega Mutahi, a decision that was swiftly reversed by the President, claiming that the PM was attempting to usurp his powers. The PM's actions had received wide-spread popular support, but it came as no surprise that the Minister refused to resign and the PS was suspended briefly by the President while the long-winding CID investigation progressed. Prof Mutahi was transferred to the Ministry of Local Government to take over from another disgraced PS, Sammy Kirui, who had been implicated in yet another scandal, the KES 280 million cemetery scandal, that has so far also claimed the scalp of the Mayor of Nairobi, His Worship Geoffrey Majiwa, the ODM Councillor for Baba Dogo Ward. Needless to say, the calls for Prof Ongeri and Prof James Ole Kiyiapi, Prof Mutahi's replacement as PS, have come fast and furiously, and they have predictably been ignored.

The recent attempt by the Judiciary Service Commission to introduce a measure of transparency and accountability into the process of managing the government of Kenya has raised the expectations of Kenyans that high government officials will take responsibility for the successes and failures of their departments. No longer will the buck-passing mentality, especially of Ministers, pass muster. The JSC reminds us that it is no longer business as usual. Regardless of the wishes of the Maasai people, or what William Ole Ntimama, the Minister for Culture and National Heritage and the de facto spokesman for the Maasai claims they are, Mr Tobiko must withdraw his candidature to the office of DPP. Regardless of the political cost to him personally, and the embarrassment that it will bring the President, Prof Sam Ongeri must resign too. It is a new dawn; this is the right thing to do.