The Sunday Nation would like to place on the public record its strong objection to the conduct of the Treasury regarding the promissory notes corruptly issued to suspect security contractors.

The statements made by Treasury officials thus far show that it is either trying to play Kenyans for fools or does is unsure about what it is doing, or probably both.

First, is the refrain by Finance minister Amos Kimunya that he will not pay. This is an admirable and popular position to adopt — and we support the minister in taking it — but unfortunately sovereign paper, whether corruptly issued or not, cannot be revoked at press conferences.

If Mr Kimunya knows what he is doing, then he should take the following steps: First, provide a complete list of all promissory notes issued thus far, their value and to whom they were issued and for what; display to the public all promissory notes so far returned and by whom; provide a list of all promissory notes outstanding, to whom they were issued and the specific legal steps that he is taking to ensure that they are not traded further and are cancelled.

Finally, provide a detailed plan of the legal action he is proposing to the government against all those who were involved in the issuance of those notes, including the Attorney-General.

Two, at a meeting last week, Treasury Permanent Secretary Joseph Kinyua told civil society that all returned promissory notes were with the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission, because they were evidence in an ongoing criminal investigation. He also characterised the introduction of promissory notes as a “mistake” and claimed that their use had been discontinued and a circular issued to that effect.

For the record, KACC denies having in its custody any promissory notes. The Sunday Nation is reliably informed that at a subsequent meeting with IMF assistant director for Africa, Mr David Andrews, the head of debt management at Treasury, Mr John Murungu, clarified that no such circular has actually been issued. Come on, there are billions of shillings of public money at risk here.

For the majority of Kenyans, this is not really a political issue. It is an issue of competence in the management of public money: Treasury has failed to secure public resources, allowing itself to become part of a corrupt process to waste the public funds it is entrusted with protecting.

Rather than running around like headless chicken, trying to fudge and spin the unspinnable, Treasury should publicly act in good faith and take concrete steps to secure that money.

The IMF is advising that Kenya should negotiate with the so-called suppliers. But, as Mr Kinyua rightly put it in his meeting with civil society, no supply was made and, therefore, no credit was extended. Besides, whom do you negotiate with?

There are, however, common sense steps that Treasury can take even as it awaits the outcome of the expensive umpteenth audit it has commissioned. First, is of course to take very good legal advice, not the kind that it took when it was issuing the notes. Second, is to attempt to place a caveat on those notes so that they are not traded.

Treasury could, for example, attempt to make it known that promissory notes were corruptly issued and that those who buy them are risking lengthy litigation and their money.

Finally, is to invite all these alleged suppliers to step forward and claim what they believe they are owed, provided they come with manifest proof of the value of the air they supplied, that we actually ordered and received it.