Mr. President,

It is a grave insult to the intelligence of the Kenyan people for you to stand at political rallies and proclaim that those behind the fraudulent hospital payments will be arrested—while the very architects of that financial heist remain comfortably seated in high office within your administration.

These pronouncements are not just hollow; they are shameful distractions from the truth and a dangerous betrayal of public trust.

Kenya has operated under the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) for years, a sophisticated digital platform designed to track and safeguard public funds. Yet billions were funneled into non-existent hospitals and fake suppliers. Why? Because the fraudsters were not outsiders. They were insiders—senior government officials working within the very ministries tasked with protecting public resources. The system was not breached from without; it was subverted from within.

Principal Secretaries, directors of finance, chief accountants, and procurement officers are not rogue actors working in secrecy. These are powerful bureaucrats, operating openly, under the watch and authority of Cabinet Secretaries. And disturbingly, they remain in office today, untouched, unshaken, unaccountable.

Take the case of Mary Muthoni Muriuki, the Principal Secretary at the Ministry of Health, and Aden Duale, the Cabinet Secretary under whom this scandal occurred. Neither has been asked to step aside. Neither has been investigated. Neither has taken responsibility. But the truth is self-evident: if they were in office when billions were paid to phantom institutions, then either they were grossly negligent, or they were complicit. There is no third option.

By refusing to suspend or dismiss these officials, you are sending a chilling message to the nation: that power shields corruption, that impunity is institutionalized, and that your so-called “war on graft” is mere political theatre—an act put on for applause at rallies, not a real campaign for justice.

How can you expect Kenyans to believe in your anti-corruption crusade when those who authorized and facilitated these fraudulent payments still occupy ministerial offices? How can any investigation be credible when the people being investigated are still signing documents, attending meetings, and influencing outcomes?

Let us speak plainly.

These payments were not made by boda boda riders or wananchi from the village. They were made by elite technocrats—professionals who prepared fake payment vouchers, created fictitious supplier accounts, approved non-existent service deliveries, and greased the palms up the command chain. None of this happens without the signature and sanction of the accounting officers—namely, the Principal Secretaries.

Mr. President, you cannot claim to fight corruption while protecting its engineers. You cannot demand arrests while shielding the very officials who engineered and approved the theft. The Kenyan people are watching. And they are no longer deceived by the theatrics of blame-shifting or the noise of political rallies.

Your silence on the culpability of your senior officials, your unwillingness to demand their resignation, and your eagerness to point fingers downward rather than inward, all reveal a painful truth: you are not genuinely committed to justice.

You are buying time. You are spinning headlines. You are counting on public forgetfulness.

But not this time.

This time, Kenyans will remember. They will remember that under your watch, hospitals that don’t exist received billions, while real patients died in underfunded clinics. They will remember that whistleblowers were harassed and demonized, while the masterminds of the heist were left untouched, even celebrated.

Mr. President, enough with the theatrics. It is time to leave the safety of political rallies and confront the fire of genuine accountability. Remove your compromised senior officials. Initiate independent, impartial investigations. Prosecute the guilty without regard for status or loyalty. Most importantly, honor the intelligence of the Kenyan people. Hear the whistleblowers. Pay attention to the voices speaking out on social media—not to silence or abduct them, but to recognize that they may be the last line of reason standing between your administration and a failed legacy.

Because until that day comes, your legacy will be unmistakable:

A government that claimed to fight corruption while dining with thieves.

History will judge.
And so will Kenyans with a conscience mind.

DISCLAIMER:
This editorial reflects the collective concerns of members of the Kenyan Diaspora and countless citizens suffering under a failed health system. The views expressed herein are grounded in publicly available information, independent political analysis, and the constitutional right to scrutinize and critique public office bearers. This editorial does not constitute a declaration of criminal guilt, but rather a call for transparency, accountability, and ethical leadership in accordance with the principles of good governance and democracy. 8/30/2025