Forget Politics! We must learn to demand value for our money

The bungled August 8^th elections was one of the most expensive elections in Africa at over Sh.40 billion. The expected repeat elections is expected to cost the Kenyan tax payer another Sh. 10 billion.

We can engage in NASA and Jubilee politics all we want but it doesn’t change the fact that billions of money are being spent and we can’t seem to get any return on investment.

How about we rest the politics for a moment and start paying attention at the colossal amounts of money we’re losing meaninglessly.

The leaked IEBC internal memo is a good place to start.

The IEBC chair’s memo directed at the CEO of the electoral agency demands answers to many things including the failed transmission of form 34As digitally, the use of porous servers, and why Satellite phones worth Sh.484 million were never used.

It doesn’t matter where the political wind is blowing, hard working Kenyans who pay taxes from their sweat must now demand value for their money. It can’t be business as usual. These elections were funded by both Jubilee and NASA supporters. It cuts across and is therefore no longer a political issue as such. We need to see people prosecuted, charged and jailed over these offenses.

It’s disturbing how impunity reigns supreme yet we fund very important bodies with our taxes. According to the Budget Statement for the fiscal year 2017/18 read out in Parliament by the CS Treasury, Henry Rotich; a total 47.8 billion was allocated to improving National Security.

Out of these 47.8 billion, 12 billion was for enhanced security operations (this includes CCTVs) yet a senior IEBC official would be dragged from his car and killed, his car do rounds in the city but our enhanced security can’t nub the perpetrators.

Where’s the return on investment in our National Security? And what does that say about the ordinary mwananchi? Should we even expect justice for the human rights lawyer Willie Kimani, his client and the taxi driver?

In the same budget statement, Sh.410 million was allocated to the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC); a commission that has gobbled tax payers money since inception with no visible results. Why should the tax payer continue funding NCIC when notorious hatemongers like Politician Moses Kuria are only getting bold by the day?

It now appears that even the fires ravaging schools and killing students could’ve been prevented if the schools were built according to the laid down safety standards. Stories are rife of parents not allowed to see where their children will be spending the night and yet they’re paying fees. This casual habit we’ve developed as a nation is now costing us children in schools.

Parents must demand to see any part of the school as they are the main clients and they pay for their kids to be there. We must now develop a culture of seeking proper value for the monies we spend.

In light of the new IEBC leaked memo, there’s a need to ask ourselves if the estimated Sh.10 billion will be another waste of money.

To prevent this wastage the culprits that bungled the August 8^th elections must face the full force of the law. We sweat to pay taxes and every penny should be accounted for.

Posted by Mzalendo Editor on Sept. 9, 2017

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