EDITORIAL: Avoid wastage of taxpayers’ resources

Editorials

EDITORIAL: Avoid wastage of taxpayers’ resources

Sunday, July 7, 2019 22:00

By EDITORIAL

Revelations that taxpayers will lose Sh208 million that was used by the government to buy 1,050 egg hatching machines are shocking to say the least.

According to the Youth Enterprise Development Fund, it had arrived at the decision to dispose of the hatcheries after they were abandoned and gathered dust in stores in Kasarani and Mombasa instead of being given to youth groups in 210 constituencies.

The Fund is still paying Sh1 million annually in storage fees despite the equipment being declared obsolete. That means that the Fund has so far spent Sh7 million on storing the hatcheries.

We aver that public officials have become too complacent when it comes to handling taxpayers funds.

The Youth Enterprise Development Fund’s case is not an isolated one since the problem has become endemic across many government departments. We opine that the only way this reckless handling of taxpayers’ funds can be stopped is by surcharging all those responsible for stalling such programmes. Once public officials know that there will be consequences for mishandling taxpayers’ resources, they will be more careful when handling such schemes. In a country where youth unemployment has reached alarming proportions, it is indeed quite shocking to learn that hatcheries that were meant to empower the youth economically were allowed to go to waste.

The government agencies must learn to read from the same script. The national government has rolled out its agenda for creating employment in the country hence these state department should be at the forefront of driving the same agenda and not stalling it. Kenyans are still owed an explanation on how equipment worth millions of shillings was allowed to go to waste.

We must abandon the systemic culture of red tape in government by rolling out measures that will propel service delivery to the grassroots where it matters most.

We must reiterate that the youth employment programme needs the support of each and every Kenyan.

That is the only way we can ably tackle the rising unemployment problem in the country. There are no two ways about it. We must always be proactive.