BONYO'S BONE: Bones in Education CS Ogamba's closet

Sworn into office on the 8th of August, 2024, today marks his 456th day at the helm of the Education Ministry. At his swearing-in, he raised his right hand and vowed to uphold and protect the Constitution of Kenya — a solemn oath that should guide every decision and every action he takes in office.

But recent events, Mr. Ogamba, tell a very different story.

The Ministry of Education has been conducting an audit of all public schools across the country, an exercise that’s already spilled past its original deadline. And what it continues to expose is shocking, shameful, and scandalous — ghost schools, ghost pupils, and ghost administrators.

A cartel operating right under the Ministry’s nose siphoning off an estimated 1.1 billion shillings every year. That’s hard-earned taxpayers’ money, looted in broad daylight without remorse, and now, apparently, without consequence.

For context, here’s what CS Ogamba told the Parliamentary Committee on Education just this Wednesday.

Now, this wasn’t the first time top officials from the Education Ministry appeared before this committee to explain this rot. Before him, Principal Secretary Julius Bitok laid bare the same fraudulent network bleeding the sector dry.

Yet months after these revelations, not a single arrest. Not one school owner. Not one ministry official. Not one bank manager. The gravy train rolls on unbothered, uninterrupted, unashamed.

CS Ogamba, you were picked by President William Ruto as a seasoned legal mind, a man of the law — a professional expected to know where the line between negligence and complicity lies. And that line, sir, is fast blurring under your watch.

Allow me, then, to remind you of what the Public Finance Management Act, 2012, clearly spells out. Sections 196 through 203 are explicit on matters of financial misconduct, fraud, and dereliction of duty by public officers. You have no excuse, none whatsoever, for failing to report and prosecute these offenses.

Julius, you don’t need another committee, another report, or another “verification process.” You have the data. You have the culprits. You have the law. So act. Act now, because Kenyans cannot continue paying taxes just for those taxes to be chewed like candy by corrupt officers in your ministry aided by ghost schools and ghost pupils who exist only on paper.

Mr. Ogamba, it’s time to draw blood — nothing less. That’s not a request. It’s your duty as the custodian of education and public trust.

If you can’t clean up your house, then perhaps it’s time to leave it.

That is my bone tonight.