Kenya is yet again in the grip of a mega financial scam hatched and executed by senior government officials in whose hands the public has placed the instruments of State.

Billions of shillings set aside for purposes of financing the very critical education sector have been lost in schemes that border on fiction novels plots.

The sad thing is that Kenyans are responding to this latest financial theft in the same old way, using the same old instruments - an undertaking that will only result in the same old result.

There is public outrage. Calls for resignation or sacking of the minister and senior ministry of education officials are pouring out endlessly but the targeted officials are staying put.

The anatomy of this latest theft however shows that it is the product of a systemic failure, particularly of the audit and monitoring functions that are in turn victims of capacity challenges in government.

Then there is the gullibility of the citizens that makes it easy for politicians to engineer a wave on just about everything and get away with it.

It may be that the level of desperation is such that the public - like the proverbial drowning man is always ready to hang on to anything that comes their way.

Take the free primary education that is at the centre of the current theft for instance.

It was no brainer that the manner in which it was suddenly rolled out in January 2003 following the December 2002 election meant that the level of exposure to theft and mismanagement was going to be extremely high.

No plans were on the cards to ensure foolproof disbursement of the money, nor were any measures put in place to ensure the efficiency through establishment of parameters of measurement.

An edict was made; the classroom doors were opened and off the programme went even without additional teachers to cater for the additional numbers of pupils.

So huge was the wave that anyone who dared to ask even the very rational question over the quality of education that would come out of such a plan were dismissed as spoilers.

The very donors, who are now crying foul over misuse of their funds, did not care much about systems either.

It was time to show that their taxpayers' money was being used to do some good in a poor country and no one was going to spoil the gravy train's roll with hard questions.

Whatever the amount of blame, Kenyans must accept that unless there is a major shift in the way public finances are being managed mega thefts will continue to be reported in many other funds such as the Kazi kwa Vijana, resettlement of IDPs, the CDF and peak with the fiscal devolution as proposed in the draft Constitution.