Switzerland President's promise to recover funds stolen abroad will strengthen war on corruption :: Kenya

The Board of Governors (COG) is owned by Kenyan citizens. It is a public entity whose main objective is to make decentralization work.

Thanks to this, the governors must plan together for the success of the decentralized government. This is not a union or pressure group for narrow interests.

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The Intergovernmental Relations Act (2012) established this institution as a forum in which governors would come together to contribute to a common basket of ideas on how best to serve Kenyans.

It would also provide a platform for collective engagement with the national government, through the National Government and County Coordination Summit.

The president chairs the summit. In his absence, the vice-president plays this role. The Summit is, therefore, the highest forum in managing relations between the two levels of government, as well as managing relations between counties.

The COG should minimize the challenge – for example on resources – between counties. This forum can also allow blocks of counties to jointly develop public services that could benefit more than one county.

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The Public Finance Act, on the other hand, gives the COG and the national government additional opportunities to discuss and agree on economic issues.

These things do not make the council an elite protest movement for egotistical and narrow interests. Tragically, that's what the COG is shaping up more and more – a parish club protecting fat cats.

It is the impression that the council gives most of the time. It is true that the national government has sometimes usurped functions, powers and even funds that rightfully belong to the decentralized government.

These include functions in health, water, roads and agriculture. The council is admirably well managed to protect devolution in such contexts.

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Curious Show

The COG, however, fails miserably when it obstructs justice and – in fact – presents a lofty profile of impunity. In a curious show this week, for example, the governors gathered in Nairobi – at the expense of the state – to protest the court summons of one of them.

The governor has been accused of abuse of power. The moody governors gave a press conference that was a dreadful comedy of errors.

They falsely alleged that they enjoy immunity from civil and criminal prosecution during their tenure. There is nothing like that.

The governors talked about imaginary laws that would protect them from prosecution. It should not surprise us that some people really believe this lie. This could explain why some have turned their offices into personal sauce trains.

A subsequent statement posted on the COG website Thursday somewhat dampened rhetoric. However, the clutch on impunity remains.

Governors suggest that a colleague stealing should be treated as a kind of worthy robber and a public dog. He should be treated differently from ordinary criminals.

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According to the COG statement, the war against corruption must be executed "in accordance with the law and not with the public lynching".

It is unclear what other law governors have in mind, though they are protesting the indictment of any of them in court. Both the police and the courts treated the man in a very civil way, all along the way.

In the future, the COG must unequivocally support the war on corruption. The information in the public domain indicates that some governors will soon be accused of corruption.

I hope the COG will refrain from crying the wolf. If there are thieves in the fraternity (and sorority), they will face justice as individuals. Citizens, for their part, must keep a watchful eye on the COG, to make sure that it does what it has been put in place.

Meanwhile, serious philosophical questions arise over the wisdom of residents in our unbridled rancor habits. So, after this primitive accumulation of public property?

Chinua Achebe speaks remarkably of a character called Unoka, in the clbadic Things Fall Apart. He says of this man: "In his day he was lazy and improvident and was quite incapable of thinking about tomorrow.

If he happened to get money, and he rarely did, he immediately bought palm wine guards and called his neighbors and rejoiced. He often said that whenever he saw the mouth of a dead man, he saw the folly of not eating what we had in his life.

Aside from the improvidence of Unoka, there is an eternal wisdom in his worldly philosophy. In western Kenya, our culture consists of seeing the remains of the dead, with the aim of paying them a last homage. What goes through your mind at such moments belongs to the intimacy of your innermost thoughts.

Sometimes, however, some people get it from their bosom. And we carried it to places where we are domiciled far from our ancestral lands.

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Once, when an extremely rich man in the government died, six years ago, a bereaved Emanyulia noticed a cup of tea with friends, " As I watched his dead mouth, I saw the futility of ambading what you can not eat.This man has spent his whole life accumulating mbadive wealth and developing lifestyle-related diseases Because of his concern, in the end he just dies and goes away with his mouth, leaving behind everything for the others to eat and the rest for them to fight.

This is the harsh reality of life. President Uhuru Kenyatta and President of Switzerland Alain Berset signed an agreement this week which should allow Switzerland to receive up to 72 billion shillings.

It is money that our compatriots have stolen over the years and hid in Swiss banks. What a good ending?

It is believed that the country's stolen funds are also idling in accounts in Malta, the Isle of Man and Jersey Island, among others. Let these questions be pursued without the protests of ethnic and elite clubs.

– The writer is a strategic consultant in public communications. [email protected]

The opinions and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Standardmedia.co.ke