A bizarre news item last week made my head reel. Apparently, the British authorities in the shape of the Department for International Development (DfID) want the long-suffering Kenyan taxpayers to pay back $48 million that was stolen by a few “Nairobbers” in the Education Ministry.

So come next financial year, or possibly this year since the British have sent their debit note early, the Finance minister will arrange to transfer a cool chunk of money to Britain.

Where will he get it from? Obviously he will pluck it from the mouths of the starving Kenyan masses. Is that the kind of result that the British had in mind when they were arranging aid for Kenya in the first place? Not likely, but that is what it has come to.

Is there anything the Kenyans can do about it? Or will they just look on as their finance minister and the Central Bank governor go ahead to process the transfer of billions of shillings to the UK Exchequer? Every transaction must have two sides. What the Kenyan taxpayers need to ask is what are they getting in exchange for the money that they are about to pay to the UK?

Can the Kenya police, in the spirit of Utumishi kwa Wote (service to all), rise to the occasion and catch the gentlemen (plus ladies if any) who took the money and recover the stolen cash so it is returned to the owner, the British government?

In the past, Britain has sent Scotland Yard experts to Kenya to help with some difficult criminal investigations. Since the UK has a direct interest in this matter as the claimant of the stolen money, why don’t they send the Yard sleuths to help Kenya police catch the people who stole it?

I am thinking of Kenyan parents who have sacrificed a lot to send their kids to private schools but who now have to contribute to the repayment of the money meant the for public education system! It is a justice system I cannot comprehend.

This business of making starving Africans pay back money stolen by a few fat cats did not start with Kenya. However, the figure Kenya is being required to pay is staggering. We have seen Ugandan taxpayers being made to pay back a few million dollars stolen by our fat cats from this and that programme. At this rate, however, things are getting scary. One of these days someone will steal the entire donor component of a country’s budget and the hapless taxpayers will be required to pay it back!

Stealing donor funds is bad, no question about it. But when theft is committed, the punishment should be meted out to the culprit, not the victim. It is like a man stealing milk donated to his family and you punish the family by taking away the children’s clothes.

It does not make sense. If you know the fellow is a habitual thief, do not send aid to his house. Either you give the milk directly to the children or forget about the aid arrangement, if you can't prevent the theft.

Some of us think the whole aid business should be stopped so African governments only have their domestic revenue to divide between actual service delivery and theft.

Joachim Buwembo is a Knight International Fellow for Development Journalism