The war on graft will be long and messy but Uhuru must not relent
What you need to know:
- Indeed, this is not an easy fight he has picked with the entrenched forces of corruption; it will be long and messy. The worms now wriggling in the muck of graft may one day turn into vicious crocodiles, devouring everyone who accosts them.
- Another reason why stronger action could not have been taken is that the men and women in that list are not criminals and won’t be until they are found to be so by a judge.
- There is a chance that the promised investigations will shed light on the nefarious activities of our leaders, but it would be even more gratifying if the guilt or innocence of those mentioned was determined before they died of old age.
This week, I have thoroughly enjoyed seeing the high and mighty huff, puff and squirm in acute discomfiture even as they insisted that their enemies were working overtime to bring them down.
I have listened to a number utter vituperative blather while trying to throw mud at their siblings in crime, as though doing so will clear their own names.
Still others waxed defiant, explaining that they cannot step aside to allow investigations into graft allegations. They say that since they have been elected by the people, the State should stop poking its nose into county affairs. On the whole, it has been an extraordinarily revealing and entertaining week.
But there is nothing even faintly amusing about the cause of all the furore: A list of people suspected to have engaged in corruption. This list was presented to Parliament by President Uhuru Kenyatta during his State of the Nation address last week, a move that either shocked or delighted many, in equal measure, depending on whether their favourite son has been mentioned.
Certainly, there is nothing funny about the grand pillage that has been taking this country to the dogs for too long. It has been a conspiracy of the rich and powerful to compete for loot, defrauding this country massively, and in that way, deepening poverty among the majority.
The dramatic move against corruption cannot have been easy for the President, especially since the list he presented includes names of some of his supporters, and those of the Deputy President.
Indeed, this is not an easy fight he has picked with the entrenched forces of corruption; it will be long and messy. The worms now wriggling in the muck of graft may one day turn into vicious crocodiles, devouring everyone who accosts them.
Unless they are stopped. This is why President Kenyatta cannot afford to give up now, however costly it may turn out to be politically.
Some people, perhaps, hoped that the President’s spirited denouncement of corruption would immediately be followed by a “Night of the Long Knives” in which there would be a spectacular purge, but it was not to be.
And rightly so. Roadside sacking of ministers is not Uhuru’s style, and in any case, to have done it precipitately would have backfired. One of his predecessors, President Moi, would have got away with it, but the times are different today.
NOT CRIMINALS
Another reason why stronger action could not have been taken is that the men and women in that list are not criminals and won’t be until they are found to be so by a judge.
First of all, it will be inordinately difficult for the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission to build water-tight cases against all the 175 individuals in that list so as to convince the prosecutor. But it must do its job, however difficult it turns out to be.
The third reason why these individuals were told to step aside instead of being fired is perhaps the most saddening. Already, some people have discovered that the gallery of suspects is weighted heavily against suspects from their ethnic communities, and are saying so loudly.
This, of course, is the curse of Africa.
When a suspect is caught with his hands in the till, he immediately becomes the property of his community and any attempt at punishment becomes a communal issue. Is it any wonder that corruption has become synonymous with the state of our nation?
There is a chance that the promised investigations will shed light on the nefarious activities of our leaders, but it would be even more gratifying if the guilt or innocence of those mentioned was determined before they died of old age.
The way things happen, the litigation may drag on for the next 15 years, and in the end, Kenyans won’t know who actually robbed them.
This is where the Judiciary must come in. The national Executive cannot fight this vice alone; it requires the helping hand of judges and magistrates to strike a mortal blow against impunity by expediting the cases.
One of the ways to do so is to discourage frivolous motions of adjournment ceaselessly made by defence lawyers with the aim of defeating justice.
