Judiciary, county governments must be accountable to public

By Billow Kerrow

Two key institutions have featured high in the public domain this past week for all the wrong reasons. Whichever way these institutions, hitherto held dearly by Kenyans, handle the issues involved, the matters raised will have a profound effect on their integrity, and the public perceptions about them. The judiciary and county governments have so far enjoyed public goodwill until the lid was blown off this week by reports in the media.

The Chief Registrar’s saga that ended in her abrupt reinstatement by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) after a week of high drama reveals a bold attempt to try and sweep things under the carpet, just when Kenyans thought that with all the reforms in the Judiciary the carpet had long been removed. Whilst the out of court arrangement may have been intended to save the dignity of this key institution, the flipside is that the public can read too much in to the whole matter. How does JSC fire its chief accounting officer on graft allegations so dramatically and be forced to retreat after she started breathing fire and promising hail and brimstone?  It may be a tactical withdrawal to regroup or re-strategise and nab the fiery lady without funfare. But we are being told of high level intrigues revolving around the goings on in the institutions. JSC says she weighed in on some court cases; which are these cases? Disagreements on procurement issues involving billions of shillings also seem to be at play. Rumour has it that when the decision to fire her was made, majority of the members voted for the decision but when the heat became too much, most members scampered for safety.

So, just what has forced the JSC members to eat humble pie on such a serious graft allegation? As expected, the Kalenjin MPs were raving mad that one of their own was being victimised and had put the House into action. It was clear that had JSC accepted the summons by the House  committee, they would have been fried in their own fat by an angry team. There are also reports that members of the JSC came under intense pressure to retract from powerful forces in high places. Clearly, it would appear that there is more than meets the eye in this intrigue. In due course, the Auditor General and other relevant bodies will uncover the truth. It is likely these matters will soon find their way on to the floor of the House

But the damage has been done — the judiciary is not clean after all! The CJ must move with speed to clean his house before all the bad image of yester years take root again.

The county governments also came under scrutiny when the Controller of Budget (CoB) published her first report on the counties expenditures, for the four months between March to June 2013. The report is vital to Parliament for its oversight role, and also provides fodder for the Auditor General to dig deeper. The counties had Sh23 billion to spend from various sources. Her verdict is that most did not spend these funds on time, and some spent for purposes that the monies were not voted for. In short, she did not give a clean bill of health.

As expected, some governors have quickly downplayed the report and accused the Controller of working to undermine devolution. Already, the Auditor General has commenced audit into the same funds and his report will be out soon. Now, will the governors also accuse him of working for the national government to undermine devolution? The Senate has also commenced examination of these accounts and will soon start its oversight work on the same.

The county governments also need to appreciate that they cannot sweep these questions of accountability under the carpet. They should embrace these reports and use it to improve their performance. Or else, the public will lose faith.