Haphazard graft probe is harmful

Payments through the Accountant General are taking long to be processed partly because the officials are either traumatised by the investigations or they are often in police cells. Public Accounts Committee of parliament.

The ongoing investigations into corruption in government departments are long overdue, but care needs to be taken to minimise possible negative outcomes. So far, police and other agencies are close on the heels of government officials in the Office of the Prime Minister as well as the Public Service and Local Government ministries.

The investigators are yet to descend on other ministries where theft of public money is suspected to be taking place. These investigations are welcome but there is a need for a better approach if they are to have impact. The investigators should be armed with a sense of concern for consumers of public services. While the public is cheering the grilling by MPs of graft suspects, the little services that were being provided continue to dwindle. Salaries of civil servants have not been paid for months with the resultant effect of low motivation to work.

The URA recently announced its failure to meet monthly revenue collection targets, which could partly be due to poor remittances of PAYE contributions. The failure meant that the government could not recruit an additional 6,000 health workers it had promised in the national Budget. Another disturbing scenario arising from the investigations is that payments through the Accountant General are taking long to be processed partly because the concerned officials are either traumatised by the investigations or they are often in police cells or before Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee.

The slow processing of payments has affected the turn-around time of paying contractors or suppliers and this has a negative trickled-down effect on the economy. Government spending is critical in boosting economic activities. In addition to delayed payments, the revelation of abuse of payment systems, especially in the Finance ministry, has triggered mistrust among bureaucrats. Shared trust, which is critical in ensuring teamwork hence good performance, has been eroded.

Officials are now second-guessing one another. There is urgent need to fix the problem quickly.
In the OPM alone, there is little work going on as officials have to appear either before the Auditor General, CID or PAC, answering queries. The government should put its act together if it is to avoid duplicating investigations. Even in this saddening situation, citizens both in and outside government, must continue receiving the little help available.