EDITORIAL: Mwangi move noble – Business Daily

Equity Group CEO James Mwangi has taken a noble step by donating Sh300 million of his personal and family wealth towards the Covid-19 pandemic kitty. The business leader’s philanthropic gesture is a welcome shot in the arm in the fight to contain the pandemic.

It should also serve as an encouragement to all Kenyans of goodwill to step up and be counted in this war. Granted, the average Kenyan may not have large amounts to donate like Dr Mwangi, but whatever they can offer will go a long way towards ensuring that health workers on the frontline have the proper equipment, including personal protective equipment, ventilators and hospital beds to deliver us the much-needed victory.

But to get more Kenyans to buy into the initiative, there is need to ensure that the funds are spent for the intended purposes and the accounting for the expenditure be done transparently.

This is a time to be frugal, to make every shilling count and to give private and corporate citizens an incentive to contribute whatever they can to fight the virus. Expenses such as the millions of shillings of World Bank donations recently reported to have been misused only serve to alienate Kenyans and increase their despondency and distrust for the public institutions and leaders who have misdirected the money.

Though we have called countless times for the government to take firm action against such wanton wastage, this is a case that those responsible should be made an example of.

With proper accountability and right spending, the country can marshal the resources needed to flatten the curve of this pandemic and begin to heal the economy.