Strong prosecutions should now follow if we are serious about tackling graft

The statements, events, and reactions of the past couple of weeks surrounding the perennially vexed subject of corruption makes me wonder. Are we on the cusp of the challenge to and confrontation against corruption?

Certainly we have come a long way in identifying and isolating it. Let me give a small example.

Twenty-one years ago I wrote a piece for the Sunday Nation which was entitled “Why Kenya’s looting brigade now has its eyes on public land”.

The main thrust of the article was that after the monetary excesses of 1992 and 1993, there was a growing penchant for Kenya’s looting brigade to next move their focus and activities to public land.

The process was as simple as it was crude. A handful of politically connected private individuals or entities would get allocated a prime piece of public land for a nominal sum. A title would be processed and then it would be sold, in part or whole, at a much higher price to a public institution that had the cash resources.

It became known as “land grabbing” and most Kenyans can give countless examples of where this has taken place. It was double plunder because not only was the land grabbed, it was often paid for out of public resources or savings that were meant for other things.

CULTURE OF FEAR

Today, we talk about this activity and make reference to it with alacrity and in most cases without fear. Not so in 1994.

When I first wrote the piece and offered it to the Sunday Nation, it passed the relevant tests of being well researched and factually correct, but publishing it was another matter.

There was a culture of fear that shrouded the whole country and putting one’s head above the proverbial parapet was regarded as dangerous and reckless.

I remember at the time being called by a colleague of mine who patronisingly told me that I was dealing with “ raw power” and should desist or at least tread very, very carefully.

The piece was pushed around a couple of editorial desks and the decision to publish was deferred for a while. I recall I was even requested to “soften” the piece.

When it did eventually get printed, I was very much aware that I might get some backlash and braced myself accordingly.

Today, there is much less remaining of that culture of fear but as we have been reminded several times recently, corruption at many levels continues unabated. The chronicling of detailed examples recently by John Githongo, George Kegoro, and Gladwell Otieno made that clear.

The dossier compiled by the Ethics and Anti -Corruption Commission (EACC) is another. The stance made by President Kenyatta on Thursday is also encouraging.

GROWING ANGER

So where to now? There is no doubt that public outrage by the majority of the population, who are mere victims, as opposed to beneficiaries, is gathering the momentum of landslide proportions.

We should not underestimate that growing anger. This is both unsurprising and gratifying. For most of us, corruption just makes our lives much tougher, more fatiguing, and even more expensive.

The big question for many now is: how far will President Kenyatta walk the talk and how seriously will those who have been named take it?

The norm in many countries which aspire to high integrity standards is that when a person is named by such a body as the EACC, then that person should step aside.

The onus is on the relevant bodies to complete investigations and prosecute as and when necessary and for the person named to defend him or herself.

That is where we should be heading. President Kenyatta should privately make what he has said in public crystal clear to the people named and that for the time being, they should step aside.

If we move down that road, then we are indeed heading in the right direction. If we do not, then this will be seen as just another bout of public gesturing of the bread and circuses variety.

Last but not least, the EACC and, in turn, the Director of Public Prosecutions, need to do some serious ground work to fully support and, where applicable, prosecute what is being alleged.

We are watching keenly and, in a number of cases, rather sceptically.

Mr Shaw is a Nairobi-based businessman. [email protected]