Every financial year, the government, in conjunction with donor agencies, pledges to implement a wide range of projects meant to uplift the standard of living and even create jobs.
But it transpires that bureaucrats, immediately after signing the deals with donors, dash back to their comfortable wood-panelled offices and forget to follow up and implement the contracts.
The Auditor General has, in her latest report, revealed that the government seems to have reneged or changed its mind and in the process, frustrated the implementation of Sh18 billion projects.
The pattern of neglect and confusion afflicts multiple government agencies.
One of the most blatant involves Sh15 billion that was to be invested in the Kenya Primary Education Equity in Learning Programme in the 2023-24 budget.
Not even a shilling has been spent on the plan.
The well-intentioned bureaucrats seem to be gathering dust on the Ministry of Education shelves, yet the children of the poor continue to suffer disadvantage in the education sector whose net effect is the further expansion of the already yawning performance gaps in education outcomes.
We do not suffer from a lack of well-thought-out plans; our malaise lies in the inertia of sitting on our hands.
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Quote of the day: “A means can be justified
only by its end. But the end in its turn needs
to be justified.” — Russian revolutionary,
Soviet politician and political theorist Leon
Trotsky was assassinated on August 21, 1940
