A waste of space

"What a spineless wuss!"

If that wasn't your first exclamation, then you've missed quite a bit over the past two weeks. A while back, the chairperson of the Parliamentary Service Commission was so alarmed at the state of affairs of the Commission's management of its finances, that he, fearing graft was the reason matters were fraught, approached the Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission to examine its processes and recommend ways to improve things. He did not choose wisely. That was his first mistake.

The anti-corruption boys went over Parliament's financial management affairs. There's an old saying: to a man with a hammer, every problem is a nail. For the EACC, every investigation is an anti-corruption investigation and every anomaly in any financial system is an indicator of a corrupt act or an economic crime. It's report to the Chairperson of the Parliamentary Service Commission was a litany of allegations against Members of Parliament, alleging financial improprieties that, when revealed to the public, somehow managed to lower the image of parliamentarians than the last time it was lowered. The Chairperson of the Parliamentary Service Commission accepted the report, and the recommendations, of the Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission and promised to take steps to see that they were implemented. That was his second mistake.

When parliamentarians, especially the ones adversely named, got a hold of the EACC report, they were livid. They made their feelings known in all fora. It didn't matter whether they were vetting ministerial nominees or debating the Statute Law (Miscellaneous) Amendments Bill, 2015, they didn't miss an opportunity to bring up the unfairness of it all: of being "investigated" by teh EACC at the behest of the Speaker of the National Assembly. It remains murky whether the Chairman of the Parliamentary Service Commission called a meeting with parliamentarians or parliamentarians summoned the Speaker of the National Assembly to a dressing down, either way, when they met, he received such an earful about the EACC investigation, report, findings and recommendations, that he not only apologised for ever inviting the EACC to their house, he castigated the EACC for its poor professionalism. That was his third mistake.

Kenyans are pitifully aware that the the leadership of Parliament, in both chambers no less, is pitiable. The behaviour of the Speaker of the National Assembly/Chairperson of the Parliamentary Service Commission has been lamentable. If he wanted an examination of the financial management structure of his commission, he should have called on the Auditor-General, who is the nation's top accountant, and who would have been in far better and authoritative position to recommend how to improve the system. He didn't and instead chose the EACC. When he received the report of the EACC and accepted its recommendations, he should have stood firm in the face of parliamentarians self-serving anger. He didn't and he chose to jettison the recommendations. But his worst wuss-like behaviour was when he not only backed off from an investigation he had asked for and a report he had accepted, he threw his own choice investigator under the bus. What. A. Wuss!

The report and its recommendations are in the public domain. The findings against MPs might have been unsubstantiated, if you choose to believe the self-serving MPs, but the recommendations by the EACC are meant to address real problems i the commission when it comes to the public finance management infrastructure. This is not something that the Speaker can run away from. If he fails to make changes, he will not only b a wuss, he'll be a waste of parliamentary space.