A Taskforce Must Begin With the Last Unimplemented Report

A serious failure occurs. Leaders announce a taskforce, commission, review panel or working group. The membership demonstrates concern, the terms of reference promise depth and the reporting deadline creates an appearance of movement. Public attention shifts from the failure to the inquiry.

An inquiry can be indispensable. It can establish facts that rumour cannot settle, hear people whom ordinary structures ignored, integrate fragmented evidence and recommend reforms beyond the authority of one office. But the formation of a taskforce is not a remedy, and the delivery of a report is not implementation.

The credibility test begins with institutional memory. What did previous reports already establish? Which recommendations were accepted, funded, implemented, delayed, rejected or forgotten? Who held the decision authority? What protection is required while the new inquiry works? A taskforce must begin with the last unimplemented report, then produce a governed route from evidence to decision, resource, action and verified human outcome.

On 24 October 2026, The Standard reported that Kenya's Cabinet Secretary for Education had appointed a multi-stakeholder task team, chaired by Professor Peter Mulwa Mbithi, to investigate the immediate, underlying and systemic causes of the 2026 school unrest. The appointment was published in a Gazette notice dated 23 October and gives the team 90 days, with monthly progress reports and a final report to the Cabinet Secretary. The Standard

The reported mandate…