The National Housing Corporation appears to be the latest statutory body to be entangled in wrangles and claims of impropriety. Already, reports are that power play is underway over who will head the yet-to-be created National Housing Fund.

The corporation has also been hit by accusations and counter-accusations as to who leaked an internal house allocation audit report carried out by the House Allocation Committee before the report was handed to the board.

To add to the intricacies, a report by the Inspection of State Corporations has revealed that senior officials, including Housing assistant minister Margaret Wanjiru, Permanent Secretaries Tirop Kosgey (Housing), Dorothy Angote (Lands) and Mary Ngari (Medical services) were allocated houses by the corporation.

However, investigations by the Efficiency Monitoring Unit in the Prime Minister's office cleared the officers pointing out that the allocations were regular. It is the hope of Kenyans that the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, which is already investigating, will conduct a thorough and expeditious probe to clear the air on the house allocation circus. If anyone is found culpable, then the due process of the law must be followed.

It is evident that NHC is run under weak laws and policies, especially on house allocations. With weak laws, and poor policies guiding NHC, it will remain difficult for the corporation to realize its vision of ensuring a decently housed nation. The latest shenanigans at NHC call for a quick rethink and re-writing of the laws governing the corporation.

Only water tight laws and policies will enable NHC deliver on its mandate. In line with the new constitution, all operations at NHC must be guided by integrity, transparency and accountability.

Quote of the day: "Unhappiness is not knowing what we want and killing ourselves to get it." - Don Herold, an American cartoonist and humorist, was born on July, 9, 1889.