Press Statement

For immediate release

Date: 11-02-2010

Dear Kenyans and friends of Kenya,

PM’s officials implicated in PWC’s report on maize scandal must immediately resign!

We the citizens of Kenya, welcome the release of the PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) report setting out the role and involvement of various government officials largely drawn from the Prime Minister’s office, in the scandal surrounding the subsidised maize programme of 2008.

We wish to urge the Prime Minister Raila Odinga who has recently, albeit belatedly, been very vocal on the corruption in the Free Primary Education (FPE) funds and calling on the officials responsible in the Education ministry to step down, the same spirit should direct his actions following the PWC findings regarding officials in his own office and other parastatals’ involvement in the maize scandal.

As we have previously pointed out, it is the Government’s mandate to provide security against threats to its citizens’ welfare. To put this in perspective: for a majority of Kenyans, the maize scandal translated to an unprecedented hike in maize flour prices. This drastic increase in food expenditure affected other household budgetary allocations such as rent, school fees and medical. The upheaval of already stretched house budgets triggered additional strain on the breadwinners and as result there was increased domestic strife. Against this backdrop, no government serving its right purpose can permit nor condone those that put its citizens through such suffering.

We are forced to remind the coalition partners that when a government cannot ensure security against all forms of threat to its citizens it does not have any business of being in power. Food insecurity among other basic needs has and continues to endanger millions of Kenyans especially the rural and urban poor.

We are gravely concerned:

1. That our top leadership continue to suffer inertia as corruption shamelessly snatches food from our starving children’s mouths.

2. That at a time when millions of Kenyans were starving, (and continue to), a few greedy high placed government individuals were capitalising on their misery in their get-rich-quick scams.

3. That while poor Kenyans were being asked by their leaders to tighten their belts; perpetrators of their agony, were loosening their belts to accommodate stolen riches.

4. That the coalition leadership is not interested in arresting corruption and are in a conspiracy to loot the State dry in turns.

In keeping with our fight against impunity in all forms, we hereby demand as follows:

1. In light of PWC’s report, all government officials implicated must step aside immediately to pave way for unimpeded further investigations.

2. In the event they are not, as always, willing to resign by their own volition, the Prime Minister must immediately dismiss them from office until investigations are concluded.

3. That in the event that the Prime Minister does not act decisively, we shall be left with no option but to dramatize our displeasure of his betrayal by engaging in mass action.

4. That any government official found guilty in causing such suffering to poor Kenyans must be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

5. That loopholes in the procurement procedures and any other laws that are allowing and perpetuating mismanagement and embezzlement of public resources by errant officials, should be as a matter of urgency reviewed, repealed and replaced.

We condemn the sacrifice of innocent Kenyan lives lost to starvation at the altar of greed of a few government officials. We reiterate our call to all patriotic Kenyans and to friends of Kenya, including diplomatic community, not to relent in the fight to get rid of the cancer of corruption in our society.

For and on behalf of Bunge la Mwananchi,

George Nyongesa
www.bungelamwananchi.org
+254 720 451 235

Editor’s notes: Bunge la Mwananchi is a platform for grassroots Kenyans to engage in democratic expression on governance, political accountability and social justice issues.