EDITORIAL: Probe border wall fiasco

That a staggering Sh3.4 billion was used to put up only ten kilometres of a fence to secure the 700-km Kenya-Somalia border sends a worrying signal that all is not well with how the project has been executed. The amount suggests that there is massive misappropriation of public resources, considering that only a tiny fraction of the wall has been built so far.

Already, close to half the money budgeted for the entire project has already been spent even before any meaningful work has been done. This sum is simply mind-boggling.

With more than 690 kilometres to go, it beggars belief just how much money will be needed before the project can be completed, if at all it will ever be.

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations must move in with haste to investigate how this money was lost and who is responsible for the wanton plunder that has become all too common in Kenya. Sh3.4 billion is a huge amount by any standards.

Any work that gobbles up such a sum must not only be visible but its returns to the public good must also be unequivocal. Clearly, this is not the case with this project. In the event that the DCI finds those responsible, be they in the private or public sector, then the next logical thing to do is for the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission to move in and seize the property accrued using that money.

And once the stolen money has been recovered, those found culpable must be locked up expeditiously.