The Senate Public Accounts Committee is reading malice in the dawn fire that destroyed critical finance documents in Kitui county in June 2020.
The fire, which happened under the tenure of Governor Charity Ngilu, thwarted the audit of nearly Sh10 billion that had been spent because the documentation was burnt to ashes.
This was not an isolated incident in the devolved units. In 2021, a fire in Kisumu county destroyed documents, stationery and computers with vital information.
Before that, there was an even bigger fire in Migori county. The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission said the Migori blaze could have been started deliberately to destroy incriminating graft evidence against then administrators.
It's baffling that to date, no one has been held accountable in all these counties.
The Senate is therefore right to demand answers on these suspicious fires (story page 8). There can be no easy way out to dodge accountability and transparency in the use of public resources.
The Senate should also compel counties, through legislation, to digitise finance and procurement records and have backup servers. This will end this madness which is obviously a criminal act.
Quote of the Day: "I never wonder to see men wicked, but I often wonder to see them not ashamed."
Jonathan Swift
The Irish author and satirist (Gulliver's Travels, A Modest Proposal) died on October 19, 1745