• A lot of theft is pegged on infrastructure projects like roads.
• What’s worse, there is a weak link in the anti-graft agencies.
Image: HANDOUT
There are two ways through which counties are not aligning resources as required by law in two ways, hence the challenge with the wage bill.
First, counties employ workers beyond the staff establishment. The second element is on worthless projects.
When a new governor comes, they seek to hire new workers for political expediency. You wonder why a county has 100 directors or more than the required number of enforcement officers. This goes against the principle behind devolution, which was for service delivery and not to create an employment bureau.
A walk across counties will show that many people still lack access to clean water. This has exposed a lot of people to diseases, just because we have not invested in preventive measures. We still have pathetic roads because resources are put on non-essential expenditures like travel. A lot of money is going to the hiring of unnecessary staff and projects that are of no value.
The major problem is budgeted corruption. Once a matter has been approved, people say it is in the budget and we don’t look at whether there was the need for what we are putting money on. For instance, in a county, you find an official has allocated Sh2.8 million for a public toilet in a market, and there are many of such kind, while CDF next door is building classrooms at Sh800, 000.
People put money into projects that are difficult to track. A lot of theft is pegged on infrastructure projects like roads.
What’s worse, there is a weak link in the anti-graft agencies. The EACC appears to have given up in the face of a very weak oversight at the assembly and citizen level. The ODPP is also not inspiring any confidence and takes a long time to prosecute; hence people know it is rewarding to be corrupt.
Honest civil servants seen to be doing good work are often frustrated, leaving service delivery in jeopardy. If we are not careful, we will not achieve the objectives of devolution; which was to bring services closer to the people, reduce poverty, and bring people close to their government. As it stands today, even ideas put forth in a public participation process are not taken up.
Community Initiative Action Group-Kenya CEO spoke to the Star