Anti-corruption fight not a political tool

In Kenya, and indeed in most developing countries, corruption has been identified as the single most important cause of negative growth and resultant widespread poverty.

It is an evil that diverts public funds to the pockets of a few individuals. It is a vice that holds future generations captive.

It is the acknowledgement that corruption will forever militate against any meaningful development that Kenyans led by civil society have been struggling to ensure that individuals entrusted with public resources stick to the straight and narrow, the alternative being that they are called to account for their transgressions.

TO SOME EXTENT THESE EFFORTS are bearing fruit. A culture of whistleblowing is emerging, and it is becoming increasingly difficult for people in positions of power to misappropriate public funds without their acts coming to light.

But in the last few weeks the war against corruption is threatening to take us to a place we certainly don’t want to go.

Recent exposures of grand schemes to loot public coffers have been linked to a number sitting Cabinet ministers from both sides of the coalition government.

Unfortunately, and going by what is playing out in the political arena, the war against corruption has quickly been turned into a contest between PNU and ODM. It appears that each side is doing its best to prove that the other is the most corrupt.

IN THE CURRENT BLAME GAME, IT is easy to discern that the accusations and counter accusations are not based on any deep-rooted determination to deal with corruption.

Rather, they are premised on narrow and short-term agenda to gain political mileage at the expense of a noble cause that would make this country a much better and happier place for everybody.

But what is even more alarming is that it appears that state agents who are mandated to deal with corruption and intelligence risk being sucked into the drama surrounding allegations of corruption.

The danger here is obvious. These agencies can only remain effective organs of government when they are seen to discharge their mandate with the utmost integrity and impartiality. They must therefore move with speed to allay fears that they have been compromised.

Similarly, politicians, some of whom are men and women of influence, must resist the temptation of using such state agents to score political points against their opponents. In so doing, they will surely be destroying institutions that have taken years to build.

At the moment the political noise is such that the real issue--the theft of vast sums of public money--is getting lost as every side is engaged in a futile attempt to take the moral high ground.

It raises the question of how allegations of corruption are levelled against individuals. Swift and through investigations must be put in place The court processes, too, must be speeded up so that individuals accused of corruption can quickly redeem themselves.

Finally, it is important to remind leaders that the fight against corruption is not about parties nor is it about tribes. And it is not a tool to be used to fix political opponents.