With all the evidence, Jubilee should resolve NYS scandal

I have said many times that the National Youth Service (NYS) scandal is a good opportunity for the national government to demonstrate its seriousness in the fight against corruption. All the suspected thieves and their facilitators are known. In other words, it is a low hanging fruit.

Through their now famous affidavits, both Josephine Kabura and former Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru gave a lot of information pointing out how the scandal was planned and executed.

Revelations by some of the key actors during their sessions with the Parliamentary Accounts Committee (PAC), if well pieced together, can lead investigators to what they need to unravel the scandal.

In my view, some of the big shots are still ‘cat-walking’, to use the words of Deputy President William Ruto, because of lack of commitment on the part of the Government to resolve the matter.

Some of the banks that handled the money have already been punished by the Central Bank of Kenya. Even though the punishment, in my view, is too lenient given that these were economic crimes, it is a confirmation that the scandal can be resolved very quickly.

Reports of corruption in Kilifi County, confirmed by non other than the Governor Amason Kingi himself, gives the national government yet another opportunity to redeem itself. And this can be done by giving all relevant institutions mandate to fight corruption are controlled by the national government.

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The importance of fighting corruption in counties cannot be overemphasized as Kenyans have high expectations for improved service delivery at the county level. This will not happen if corruption persists. Reports by the Auditor General continue to highlight mega corruption in counties which makes the regional governments such a disappointment to Kenyans.

In September this year, three former members of the Nyeri County Executive were handed three-year jail terms each over corruption. The former county government minister in charge of finance and planning and land and infrastructure as well as a former chief of staff, had earlier been suspended. The case set an important precedent that needs to be sustained.

However, I wish to make some assumptions about the scandal in Kilifi County. That being an “opposition county”, the national government will want to move with speed if only to neutralise CORD’s constant accusations of corruption in the Jubilee administration.

Also, Kingi has been one of the most vocal critics of the national government. Kingi worked with his Mombasa counterpart Hassan Joho to deny Jubilee victory in the Malindi parliamentary seat by-election. There has been speculation the ruling party is courting both governors who have come out as important anchor persons in Coast politics.

Thirdly, the fact that it was Kingi himself who revealed the scandal means he is keen to distance himself from it as much as possible. We can assume that he will use his political might to ensure culprits are brought to book. The actions he has taken so far are commendable.

However, the fact that the scandal has been unearthed less than one year to the 2017 elections does not make things easy for the governor ahead of elections.

His opponents, including Kilifi North MP Gideon Mung’aro will surely use it to discredit his leadership. Already, some of Kingi’s rivals have held protests in the county over the scandal, meaning, they are keen to cash in on it.

But the scandal can also be a major incentive to Kingi if he gets to the bottom of it. In other words, unraveling the scandal will help the governor build his public image even more.