Appraise State agencies and make report public before August polls

President Uhuru Kenyatta’s wrap-up should include an audit of State agencies since some officials are known to publish false data to convince the citizenry that the government is on target in running the country.

As the President prepares to hand over the baton, the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, National Gender and Equality Commission, Judicial Service Commission and Commission for Revenue Allocation should appraise government performance since 2013, and make the report public three months to the August 9 polls. .

The evaluation team should incorporate Commission on Administrative Justice, Auditor-General, Kenya Human Rights Commission, Kenya Law Reform Commission, International Commission of Jurist – Kenya and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extra-Judicial killings.

The Financial Reporting Centre, as well, should prepare a detailed report on proceeds of crime and how it is combating money laundering. Such an appraisal would guide the incoming government to correct socio-political errors, economic crimes against the citizens, reform national policies, and more importantly, assist in developing a strategic plan going forward.

The assessment and audit should be independent, and devoid of State obstructions – it should unravel the rot in Education, Health, Labour, Agriculture, Security, and Infrastructural development sectors. The process should shade light on why we have so many incomplete projects, and why government honchos have always acted with impunity – disobeying the rule of law. 

The exercise should focus on Universal Healthcare, ‘Beyond Zero’ clinics, Kemsa, Eurobond, National Youth Service, National Irrigation Board, Mumias Sugar, NHIF, School textbook scandal, IEBC 2017 tenders, Galana Kulalu, Ketracco, Prison tenders, Afya House scandal, Ruaraka land, Youth Fund, National Oil Corporation theft, the Laptop Project, the haphazard implementation of Competency Based Curriculum and billions of shillings sunk in the Standard Gauge Railway and the Nairobi Expressway project.

The other areas of concern is the rising external debt, and why the coffee, tea, sugar, pyrethrum, cotton, macadamia, sisal, cashew nut, hide/skin and beef industries are collapsing.

Equitable division of revenue raised nationally between the National and County levels of government should likewise be inspected.

Similarly, Public Procurement Regulatory Authority performance should be appraised with the view of compelling the agency to disclose information on enterprises that have secured tenders in State-backed entities. This will help to expose shareowners of firms which secretly and illegally benefited from State deals through nominee accounts.

Workers are demanding to know why the government is determined to kill trade unions, why corruption is rife in government offices, why the country has failed to attract investors, the rising insecurity, high level of poverty and poor governance. Appraising government performance is an opportunity to give Kenyans sincere feedback on the running of the State. It will assist in holding the incoming government accountable, liable and responsible.

-The writer is a member of the Parliamentary Committees on Education and Labour