There’s money to pay teachers only that Jubilee regime prefers to ‘eat’ and waste

President Kenyatta addresses a press conference at State House. Rejecting court decisions because you don’t like them is the recipe for lawlessness and a failed state, writes Maina Kiai. PHOTO | FILE | SALATON NJAU |   NATION MEDIA GROUP

In Summary

• This year the regime requested Sh215 billion for defence and policing, an increase of Sh26 billion over the previous year.
• Re-allocating Sh15 billion from this to teachers will likely not affect our security adversely.
• Well, I don’t know if these MPs live in Kenya, but if they did they would know that there are no lawyers in Kenya who have run organizations as big and complex as the Judiciary! No sitting judges does any management of any significance, and the largest law firm in Kenya has more than 100 staff.

By MAINA KIAI
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The “can’t pay, won’t pay” mantra by the Uhuruto regime in response to the Judiciary’s verdict that teachers should be paid more is contemptuous and dangerous.

It rubbishes those who take care of our poor children in public schools every day, and also depicts a regime that is fully committed to the return of the imperial presidency that caused this country so much pain and damage over the years.

So much so, that eliminating this sort of presidency was the major reason for the demands for a new constitution.

Contemptuous because there are funds to pay teachers the extra Sh17 billion per year they have been awarded. But this regime’s priorities, despite all the rhetoric about youth and laptops for every primary school kid, are all about wastage and “eating.”

RE-ALLOCATING FUNDS

And yes, while it is not as simple as re-allocating funds after the budget has been passed, a gesture of goodwill to engage the teachers in discussions on how, and when, these increases can be implemented would be a healthy sign of good faith and respect.
This year the regime requested Sh215 billion for defence and policing, an increase of Sh26 billion over the previous year. This is the highest rise for security in the region and one of the highest in the world.

We certainly need better security, given the serious crisis of insecurity in Kenya, but throwing money at the security forces is not the only way to deal with insecurity, especially when impunity, corruption and disrespect thrive.

Re-allocating Sh15 billion from this to teachers will likely not affect our security adversely, rather impacting on what is available for conspicuous consumption and corruption.

RECIPE FOR LAWLESSNESS

Similarly re-allocating Sh2 billion from the NYS to teachers will perhaps reduce the inclination to pay Sh25,000 for a sack of ndengu for NYS recruits. And Voila! There is the Sh17 billion!

Dangerous because rejecting court decisions because you don’t like them is the recipe for lawlessness and a failed state. Imagine if we all did the same thing!

But this contempt for the judiciary seems coordinated. For no sooner had Mr Kenyatta declared that his regime would not obey court orders, than a two-year old Parliamentary Accounts Committee report was released.

The report basically rehashes what the Judicial Service Commission found in its own investigations, but it then disparages the Chief Justice for accounting issues that he has no control over.

And, to boot, the report does not give him any credit for actually trying to address some of these financial issues that are raised, most significantly by sacking the Chief Registrar of the Judiciary who holds primary responsibility for accounting.

STRANGEST CRITICS

One of the strangest critics from the PAC was that the Chief Justice had come from outside the Judiciary and had never run such a huge operation before.

Well, I don’t know if these MPs live in Kenya, but if they did they would know that there are no lawyers in Kenya who have run organizations as big and complex as the Judiciary! No sitting judges does any management of any significance, and the largest law firm in Kenya has more than 100 staff.

Moreover the idea that because someone has been a Judge previously they would necessarily be a good and effective Chief Justice is pure myth, aimed at influencing the succession for the Chief Justice due in 2017. We only need to look at the record of previous Chief Justices’ recruited from within to see the mess they created.

REPUGNANT CULTURE

Indeed, it was the repugnant culture within the Judiciary that was the impetus for reforms, and those schooled in that culture would only have perpetuated the mess. This is why it was imperative that vetting of judges be done, for the other option to deal with the mess in the Judiciary was to fire them all and start afresh.

It is a truism that you can’t have reform without reformers which perhaps explains the sorry state of our legislature today.