Task forces aren't created to find truth; they are designed to delay justice

Former Deputy President William Ruto (centre) flanked by the Environment CS Keriako Tobiko (left) Forest Management Task Force Chairperson Marion Wakinya Kamau (right) and the Task force members when Ruto launched the task force at his offices in Karen, Nairobi in 2018. [Elvis Ogina. Standard]

In Kenya, there is a curious pattern that resurfaces each time the nation confronts a crisis—be it a scandal, a systemic failure, or a public outcry. It is the formation of task forces, commissions of inquiry, ad hoc panels, and other similar bureaucratic detours.

This political reflex, now deeply entrenched in the nation’s administrative psyche. It has morphed into a theatre of avoidance where reports gather dust, public funds evaporate, and genuine accountability is diluted into recommendations that rarely, if ever, see the light of implementation.

This tendency is a deliberate strategy of delay and diversion. Whenever national issues cry out for swift and constitutional resolution, the State responds by constituting yet another 'high-level' committee to study the obvious and suggest the inevitable.

The history of Kenya’s governance is littered with these entities which are quick convenient ghost ships of reform that never dock. From the Ndung’u Land Commission (2004) to the TJRC, the Kriegler and Waki Commissions (post-2007 election violence), the Goldenberg Inquiry, the 2003 Kiruki Commission into Anglo-Leasing, the Ransley Police Reform Task force (2009), and most recently, the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms (2022)—the pattern remains unchanged. Add to this the more than 20 sectoral task forces set up between 2013 and 2024, spanning health, lands, education, and even coffee and miraa reforms.

While there are some delivered reports, none can claim wholesale implementation. They were born out of crisis but buried under indifference. Millions of shillings poured into per diems, hotel retreats, printing glossy reports, and public hearings. Funds that could have gone into strengthening already existing constitutional bodies mandated to do the very same work. This bane has spread even to the devolved systems. For instance, the Auditor General has a mandate under article 229 for county and national government audits yet in 2023, Trans Nzoia County Governor formed a county task force to audit the county bills.

Luckily in 2024, the High Court through Justice Anthony Mrima, reminded the county that such task forces cannot usurp the mandate of the Auditor General and declared the entity unconstitutional and unknown in light of Article 229 of the Constitution. This duplicity of roles is not just administrative sloppiness; it is a violation of the constitutional order. Article 10 of the Constitution outlines national values including transparency and accountability. The proliferation of task forces that mimic roles already assigned to constitutional commissions and independent offices under Chapter 15 violates the principle of efficient, effective, and lawful governance.

Justice Mrima was not alone in this constitutional fumigation, Justice Lawrence Mugambi recently declared unconstitutional the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the Shakahola tragedy that was led by Justice Jessie Lesiit. He went further to nullify section 3 of the Commission of Inquiry Act which gave the President power to appoint a judge to head such inquiries. He also declared the task force on the police reforms unconstitutional to the extent of usurpation of the National Police Service Commission mandates.

The Presidential task force on audit of public debts also stands suspended by the High Court. In addition, Justice Andrew Mwamuye recently put a sledge hammer on the Presidential Task force on addressing Human Resources for health professionals.

Yet despite these pronouncements, the State continues to create parallel governance tunnels with impunity. The constitutionally mandated institutions are not only undermined, but public trust in them is eroded as the public is made to believe they are inadequate—when in truth, they are merely underutilised and designed to fail. The obsession with task forces also exposes an aversion to responsibility.

When the President appoints unknown bodies to investigate what is already known, it reveals a fear—not of the unknown—but of consequences. Commissions are not created to find truth; they are designed to delay justice, scatter focus, and provide the illusion of action while real action is suspended indefinitely. Ultimately, the task force culture is not just wasteful; it is performative governance at its worst.