President Uhuru Kenyatta inspects progress at the Aiyaibei Dam during
the Official Ground breaking Ceremony for the National Food Security
Project: Galana/ Kulalu Model Farm at Galana in Tana River County.
Photo/WILLIAM OERI
The rumpus over the recent parastatal appointments brings to the fore the question of governance of State corporations.
And this is an old problem that subsequent governments have failed to deal with comprehensively and conclusively.
Thus
far, opinions are divided over the suitability and legality of some of
the appointments made by President Kenyatta in December, with the
positions taken by various individuals easily informed by their
political affiliation.
One of the oddities was the
naming of former presidential aspirant Abduba Dida to chair the
Constituency Development Fund board, contrary to the legal requirements
that provides for an open process that involves vetting by Parliament.
This
compelled Deputy President William Ruto to join the debate, pointing
out that President Kenyatta was given the wrong advice.
Arguably,
the reason why the President could be given the wrong advice is that
there are many competing forces around him who want to influence his
decisions to serve their own interests. In the absence of clear
procedures, it becomes a free-for-all game and the policies are read
selectively.
Paradoxically, one of the first things
President Kenyatta did when he assumed office was to appoint a team to
audit and make recommendations on the effective management of
parastatals, which report he received and committed to implement. But
this was not to be.
President Kenyatta must create
order in the management of parastatals by instituting proper governance
structures and throwing out parochial, political and whimsical pieces of
advice that are leading him astray.
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