God help us! Anti-graft war has been reduced to a dynastic feud
President Uhuru Kenyatta addresses a public rally in Nanyuki Town on November 28, 2016. The Jubilee propaganda mill from the social media mercenaries and the political soapbox warmongers was mobilised to wage war against Raila. PHOTO | PSCU
What you need to know:
- He demanded the exit of scores of senior public officers, including five Cabinet secretaries, who were under investigation.
- Thus the problem in Kenya is not corruption, but opposition leader Raila Odinga, civil society, the media, and others who have exposed rampant vice.
Act 1, Scene 1. Somewhere in present day Kenya…
Uhuru Kenyatta: My government is committed to the fight against corruption. To start with all those mentioned adversely must step aside.
Raila Odinga: You step aside, you lead a government of thieves!
Uhuru: So what? You are also a thief.
Raila: Eurobond! National Youth Service! Ministry of Health!
Uhuru: That is unfair. You are targeting my stalwarts, my innocent hard-working ministers. Haven’t you also been stealing? How about Kisumu Molasses? And you are shielding your party governors who are stealing county government funds.
Raila: No, no, no! Those are whistle-blowers. In any case your Jubilee governors are stealing more than my Cord governors. Mine are just trying to attain equity as demanded by the new Constitution, but they are being targeted by an evil conspiracy of the Auditor-General, the media, and Jubilee operatives...
Uhuru: No, no, no, you are stealing my lines. It’s me who is a victim of your evil machinations. The media has always been in your pocket, and the Auditor-General, his name betrays him. The new Constitution is to blame.
Raila: Nonsense! You are corruption personified, the leader of a band of thieves who hold on to power and impoverish Kenya. The genes come from your father, Jomo, who was the original land-grabber, the original king of corruption.
Uhuru: Ngai! You are just jealous, the perpetual bad loser who will never taste power. How about your father, Jaramogi, the one behind the Luo Thrift and Trading Company who impoverished his own people? He was the original prince of poverty.
FLASHBACK: THE EARLY YEARS…
Jaramogi Oginga Odinga: You, Jomo, have betrayed the struggle for uhuru, grabbing all the land and wealth for yourself.
Mzee Jomo Kenyatta: Bloody #@#£& communist! What have you done for yourself? We are building the nation, but you will remain poor, and you will never see power!
Jaramogi: Bloody #@#£& thieving, land-grabbing capitalist roader!
Young Uhuru: Listen, they are quarrelling again, but I bet my daddy can beat your daddy.
Young Raila: Don’t you mess with me, or I’ll kick your backside!
Young Uhuru: I can pee farther than you.
Young Raila: Mine is bigger than yours…
Yes, this is what Kenya has been reduced to. The fight against corruption has been abandoned, and replaced by inane finger-pointing.
It looks like it was so long ago that President Uhuru Kenyatta raised hopes that he was finally waking up to the grave threat runway graft poses to his government and to the national fabric.
At the end of May last year, he delivered a fighting State of the Nation speech in Parliament, declaring that the days of wanton graft were over.
He demanded the exit of scores of senior public officers, including five Cabinet secretaries, who were under investigation.
Not long afterwards, he declared corruption a threat to national security.
The country rightly cheered the new tough stance, but some of us held back judgement until it became clear that what we were seeing was more than a mere public relations stunt.
Our scepticism was justified, going by the route the fake war against graft has taken.
The President has declared himself and passed the buck to line agencies such as the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Corruption and the Kenya Police Directorate of Criminal Investigations, who have proved themselves nothing more than willing lapdogs of State House.
They conduct anti-graft investigations and prosecutions that are no more than smoke and mirrors, targeting errand boys and minor miscreants while shielding the real movers and shakers.
ALL ALONE
The real signs that the war against corruption has been abandoned came, however, when the government stopped all pretence and instead misdirected all efforts to tarring those campaigning against corruption.
Thus the problem in Kenya is not corruption, but opposition leader Raila Odinga, civil society, the media, and others who have exposed rampant vice.
The Jubilee propaganda mill from the social media mercenaries and the political soapbox warmongers was mobilised to wage war against Raila. The opposition chief replied in kind.
And that is how we ended up with that stuck record of the Kenyatta-Odinga dynastic feud instead of a real anti-corruption war.
We are truly on our own.
[email protected]. @MachariaGaitho
