Most wasteful letter from President Uhuru’s Office
Here below is an open letter to His Excellency President Uhuru Kenyatta regarding brainless waste of public money by his office that hosts one of the most corrupt ministry in Kenya.
The Ministry of interior Security and Coordination of National Government appears to be under the management of robots guided by British colonial bureaucratic confidential mail system that should have been abandoned the moment Mzee Jomo Kenyatta became Kenya’s Prime Minister during the internal self-government in 1963. The robotic system is a foolish, unnecessary and unfortunate drain to Kenya’s taxpayers coffers.
The foolish part is that people expected to understand how critical it is to be thrifty in use of public financial resources do not use common sense to save taxpayer’s money. It is unnecessary because it is avoidable if such officers make use of a small part of their brains that God gave them for free. It is unfortunate that such officers are serving in what claims to be a digital government in a genuinely digital world that has technology to save substantial taxpayers cash.
The officers involved clearly do not know or care what President Uhuru’s hullabaloo over corruption is all about. They do not care about it, it’s useless and it’s just hot air that would, some may be holding, interferes with their clock-work efficiency of corruption cartels the President himself admits, even on foreign lands, are rampant.
The Principal Secretary’s office says the ministry has no funds set aside for Anti-Corruption Awareness even without finding out what would be involved in such initiative. The ministry has also never seen the need to involve the Kenyan public in Security Civic Awareness in a systematic manner – yet it cannot account for billions of shillings pilfered every year.
Read on …
His Excellency Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta
President and the Commander in Chief of Kenya Defense Forces
Office of The President
Harambee House
P O Box 30510
Nairobi
Your Excellency
RE: LOSING THE WAR ON CORRUPTION
Last March Inter Press Service Information Management Consultancy sent the letter reproduced below to the Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government offering the following Anti-Corruption concept.
Nairobi, Kenya
March 24, 2016
Major General (Rtd) Joseph Nkaissery
Cabinet Secretary
Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government
Nairobi
c.c
Eng. Karanja Kibicho Mr Joseph Boinnet Mr Eric Kiraithe Permanent Secretary Inspector General GK Spokesperson
Dear Sir,
RE: ANTI-CORRUPTION AWARENESS CONCEPT FOR
THE INTERIOR MINISTRY
Kindly accept our congratulations on how you continue to steer the Kenya security scene firmly on track while keeping surveillance on corrupt criminals determined to undermine the Rule of Law. Your devoted stewardship is an exemplary National Pillar that keeps over 40 million Kenyans save under very worrisome environment.
We take pleasure in submitting for your consideration a concept we believe will enhance your ministry’s War on Corruption that has manifested itself as a serious Threat to our Nationhood. We propose a fairly intrusive approach.
Our concept is driven by the fact that most Kenyans are genuinely concerned about Corruption now perceived to be at all time high. There is no denying that the Police has taken the unenviable position of No 1 Corrupt institution far too long.
There can’t be any better message than to appeal directly to Kenyans in both Public and Private Sectors to STOP CORRUPTION using cost-effective simple-to-understand and recognizable products that will be visibly available always and able to convey messages on a long-term basis.
Kindly see attached images of some of the products we have developed. We shall be grateful to make a presentation and bid competitively.
For the last 3 years we have hosted security awareness website www.nyumbakumisecurity.com to educate Kenyans on matters of security for free.
Best regards
Blamuel Njururi
Managing Consultant
Your Excellency,
The following images were attached to illustrate what the Anti-Corruption Awareness initiative would entail.
Interior Ministry Anti-Corruption Awareness Symbol
The Interior Ministry Anti-Corruption Awareness symbol depicts STOP CORRUPTION (WACHA UFISADI) on a background of Ksh 1,000 Currency notes that represent Corruption medium.
The symbol will give the public a physical image of Corruption that they can relate and resonate with whenever they see it.
IPS holds the view that Anti-Corruption Awareness messages should be as prevalent as those of HIV-AIDS or in commercial world M-Pesa or Coca-Cola.
Interior Ministry Anti Corruption Awareness Symbol Application on Boards
This Anti-Corruption Awareness Board will serve as a welcome reminder to both the members of public visiting police establishments and staff to STOP CORRUPTION (WACHA UFISADI).
Proposed Anti-Corruption Awareness Board Application: Out-door boards outside institutional buildings
Below: Anti-Corruption board outside the main public entrance to Jogoo House
Awareness Board sample at Central Police Station – Nairobi
Sample board ouside Mande
ra border control
Such boards at Police Stations and entry points will remind members of Public and Police to STOP CORRUPTION
Anti Corruption Awareness Sample Board at CID Headquarters
Get rid of relics
“CORRUPTION FREE ZONE” cliché has lost meaning in the face of current high levels of graft. it means nothing to members of public
Indoor Boards: To be placed at strategic locations along corridors
Anti-Corruption Awareness Stickers
- The Interior Ministry Anti-Corruption Awareness symbol with the message STOP CORRUPTION (WACHA UFISADI) is ideal for stickers that can be placed at strategic places for awareness in Public buildings and all collaborating Private Sector institutions.
- The Presidency and Police Logos give the Stickers desired sense of State Authority.
General Posters: Corruption Drives Terrorism
These stickers to be placed in areas with high prevalence of illegal arms and terrorism activities potential.
Your Excellency,
We then explained that the concept would be based on value for money but we did not indicate any cost at all.
Cost implications
This concept is grounded on the principle of fighting Corruption visibly and based on value-for-money to benefit the Interior Ministry as a concerned public institution fully conscious of the financial regulations and constraints Public Probity imposes and Interior Ministry heavy responsibilities.
All products above will be priced at prevailing commercial rates and Inter Press Service (IPS)will bid competitively. The Ministry can decide order of priority products. IPS will further provide publicity ideas for sustainable campaign visibility.
Interior Ministry has a moral responsibility to take the first step in redeeming its tarnished public image, perception and reputation with visible messages to a deserving audience that feels short-changed by some police officers involvement in corruption.
Our effort is to provide communications products to ease the tasks of the New multi-agency Anti-Corruption approach that ropes in public and private sectors in the War against Corruption to which Interior Ministry should provide collaborative leadership to get rid of its “most Corrupt ministry” badge it wears today.
This Anti-Corruption Awareness initiative will be of great Corporate Value to Interior Ministry at this point in time and it should communicate such Awareness as a constituent pillar in Citizen-focused public service to ameliorate the Great Public Concern.
Your Excellency,
Your Ministry of Interior Security and Coordination of National Government responded in the most wasteful manner totally devoid of any simple intelligence of conserving public funds as follows.
A letter signed by a Mr M M Barre on behalf of Principal Secretary on official Office of The President dated April 4, 2016 OP/PA/1/3A, said;
Managing Consultant
Inter Press Services
Nairobi
RE: ANTI-CORRUPTION AWARENESS CONCEPT FOR THE INTERIOR MINISTRY.
Your letter dated 4th March 2016 on the above subject refers.
We appreciate the concern of your organisation on corruption levels in the country. However, we have no funds set aside fot that purpose for now. We therefore are unable to meet your request.
Your efforts to improve the image and service delivery in the country are highly appreciated.
(signed)
M. M. BARRE
FOR: PRINCIPAL SECRETARY INTERIOR.
We appreciate the kind words about our concern over corruption and all the bureaucratic spicing. Your Chief of Staff Mr Henry Kinyua saw no sense in the concept last December when we sent a copy to involve you.
However, that is a response that could be simply communicated to us via an email address on our letter or by a telephone call as we made several inquiries but were referred to CS PA, PS PA etc. It would have cost the Ministry a few cents to send an email.
Instead, the following wasteful procedure was employed;
- A letter was dictated to a secretary who handed it to Barre. It was typed on expensive light Blue Conqueror 100 gsm paper then stamped CONFIDENTIAL.
2. The letter was then folded by half and inserted in an A5 envelop. The envelope was addressed to us, our address written down and the envelop sealed. Stationery cost money.
3. Thereafter a bar of RED wax and a match box were sought. Both the red wax and match box are bought with taxpayer cash. A match stick was lit and extended towards the lower end of the Red wax bar that was allowed to melt and then smeared on bottom at the center of the envelop.
4. An Office of the President metallic seal was then pressed on the molten Red wax leaving the impression that read Office of the President Nairobi.
5. Steps 2 and 3 were repeated twice to affix similar seals on top and right hand side of the A5 envelop. All that done not in a nursery school by 4-year-old kids, but by highly paid people in the highest funded security Ministry on the land, headed by an engineer.
Multiple seals: A waste of public resources
6. The letter and the sealed envelop were then squeezed into another A5 envelop which was addressed to us, stamped to indicate it was from the Office of the President then franked with Ksh 100 stamp.
7. The “Regret” letter was then taken some 2 kilometres to the General Post Office to be transmitted as a registered letter.
Ksh 100 of taxpayer regret wastage
It is incredible that such waste of money, stationer and human resources workforce is an every day activity at the Office of the President, who at one time offered to have his salary cut by 10 per cent to save public funds salary wage. It is not surprising that similar wastage is prevalent in all government ministries and parastatals in your government that claims to be digital.
Your Excellency,
I experienced similar rebuff from the same Ministry when I approached it with a concept of developing a website for Nyumba 10 Security Initiative to enhnce Public Security and Anti-Terrorism Awareness. I was told there were no funds for such a initiative, while it was hemorrhaging of billions of shillings it could not account. The Cabinet Secretary strategic media chief Mwenda Njoka tried all he could to have the concept developed as a civic education platform all in vain.
- Aware of the importance of Public Safety Awareness in the face serious terrorism threats I decided to develop www.nyumbakumisecurity.com website on my own and it has over the last four years been very popular. Mr Joseph Kaguthi considers the site as part of his initiative’s Public Security Awareness platform and has so far chipped in Ksh 4,000 for website domain renewal. The rest is my burden. I have renamed it citizensparticipationinsecurity.org
- I also developed www.ipsroadsafety.org as a Road Safety website, which too is very popular with local and international audience sharing safety on roads ideas.
- Additionally I have an Anti-Corruption Twitter handle – Citizens Against Graft – @MwanaMzalendo and hashtag #CitizensAgainstCorruption, which share our advisory products with the public.
Your Excellency,
You must implement radical re-organisation of your government’s War on Corruption and Terrorism, or lose both, at this critical period when you will soon be seeking a Second Term in 2017.
God Bless you.
God Bless Kenya.
Blamuel Njururi
