Nairobi — The events that led to the eventual disconnection of Postal Corporation of Kenya's Internet link by an Israeli firm early last week have been well-documented.

The matter is the subject of investigations by the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission, while Universal Satpace, the vendor in question, has gone to court to stop the parastatal contracting another supplier, and the verdict is due next month. We would not wish to prejudice these proceedings.

But clearly, the entire saga stands out as a serious indictment of our key corruption oversight body, and its ability to process cases promptly and efficiently.

The Satpace deal has been on since the two parties put pen to paper in July 2002, a period straddling two regimes at Posta. It was also listed among a litany of questionable deals by former anti-graft permanent secretary John Githongo. Yet it would appear that no form of closure is due any time soon.

In the meantime, Kenyans continue to pick the tab, a hefty Sh170 million a year. According to the fine print of the deal, Posta was to service the contract at Sh200 million a year, against the meagre Sh30 million it collects from users of its cyber-cafes across the country. Yet it cannot shut down the cafes, for it is a parastatal.

The crunch of the Satpace deal really is why a seemingly innocuous Internet connectivity plan was elevated to the status of a "security" project, warranting its purchase without open tendering.

Without seeming to underestimate the number of problems and the complexity of the puzzles it finds on its in-tray, there is need for the KACC to handle such cases more urgently.

And while at it, there is need to relax procurement rules that virtually hold parastatal chiefs prisoners. As things stand now, they are damned if they short-circuit the normal procurement bureaucracy to forestall a crisis; and equally stand condemned if they follow the so-called due process.