Parliamentary committees are, in my opinion, quasi judicial in their business and ought to hold themselves in the seriousness and professionalism this demands.
The PAC committee questioning the devolution CS should have had a real statement of misappropriations, itemizing specific details of mis-deed and these should have been provided to the media (the media too should have requested for these if not voluntarily supplied)
The interviewers should have exhaustively delved into each and every item of concern and insisted on clear answers from all concerned-the CS and /or her ministry's PS either as individuals or as guilty parties.
Hearing a member of the PAC stating "…they said she has a flat screen TV costing so much money,.." and not having anything to substantiate this claim-e.g. showing a picture of the item in the CS's office-is tantamount to conspiring to misguide the course of justice. They should have had pictures of the said items that had been over-priced, copies of the auditors' statements, etc.
Holding the committee session without such is like a prosecutor taking a case before a judge leaving all evidence at home thereby causing a mis-trial. Remember the 'he says she says' scenario? The investigators did not even take a picture of the alleged piano in the office?
I take issue with the fact that nobody is mentioning any name to attach to the monstrous crime that has been committed. Who is the Principal Secretary in that ministry? No one seems courageous enough to name them, not the CS herself, not the PAC committee legislators, we are not even sure who is the boss of who in the ministries! Who does the accounting officer in a ministry answer to or do they operate ministries as personal fiefdoms? If a cabinet secretary cannot oversee the financial accounting of their ministry then what are they there for?
The media is wondering why Kenyans are not in the streets en mass protesting the ills the government is perpetrating. How can they be angry if they don't know what is really happening? The happenings of government are like a private members' club and the public is only fed-by the media- pieces of half truths-outbursts resulting from disagreements on who is eating what, what is there to be eaten and who is being starved. When the protagonists are all satisfied and happy, we never know there is a country being plundered. That is why today's opposition was yesterday's government and it might be the reverse come 2017.
Every news bulletin today has a piece about fraud and misappropriation of public funds- yet the same media propagating these are not keen enough to collect, collate, collaborate and present credible evidence for the layman in the village who does not understand the technical jargon or lingual acrobatics, the common mwananchi is lost in the semantics/syntax and is left to judge by whoever shouts loudest or meanest, among the accusers/accused.
One media house actually quoted a competitor's online edition regarding a circular from the President which was published in December 2014. They asked their viewers to google it!
Woe betides you in Suguta valley, if you've ever wanted to know the truth. so watched the TV news.
