Why I think the war on corruption is faltering

I supported the war on graft when declared by President Uhuru Kenyatta in his State of the Nation address in March.

The following month I took the position that come the end of June, Kenyans would pass judgement as to whether the President was serious in his declaration of a graft war. My position now is that this war is faltering.

One, Deputy President William Ruto’s Weston Hotel has emerged as a magnificent and eloquent monument to corruption. Here’s why. When the news broke that Mr Ruto owned the hotel, he flatly denied it. Then a sidekick came along and said he, and not the DP, owned the hotel. Knowing winks and nods were exchanged.

Among the Baganda of Uganda, the king was not supposed to break wind in public. If that happened, there was a fellow who immediately announced that he, and not the king, had fouled the air. That fellow was called omwinyambi, which means he who farts. Like omwinyambi, Mr Ruto’s sidekick claimed the stench to shield his boss.

But soon afterwards the DP was persuaded that he needed to clear the air. So in a TV interview he admitted to owning shares in the hotel. Unlike the TV interviewer, however, a local daily nailed him. Quoting from court papers it showed Weston is, in fact, Mr Ruto’s hotel.

So, what Mr Ruto himself has called the narrative changed and, he changed it again last week at two public functions. He said that like the late Njenga Karume who sold charcoal and built hotels, he, too, sold chicken and built Weston. But, that is not the problem with Weston.

The problem is that it stands on previously public land which was transferred to private ownership in opaque circumstances despite high-level instructions that it remains public property. But the public, unlike Abunuwasi, cannot ask the DP to hoist his hotel in the air so that they take back their land.

The DP belongs to that group which acquired prime public properties for a song; got titles which served as collateral to secure loans to develop them or sold them dear and grew rich. Karume worked early and late, long and hard, scrimped and saved, then borrowed, built, produced, made and sold to grow rich. Read Karume’s book From Charcoal to Gold.

Two, exit Mr Ruto and enter Devolution Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru, the President’s right and left hand man. After the DP she is the most powerful member of the Cabinet, with an expansive docket with responsibilities across ministries and, more importantly, in whose ambit the re-thought, re-fashioned and super-rich National Youth Service (NYS) falls.

NOT MILITARISE

I am on record as supporting the NYS initiative, but warning that the service must not militarise young people who would then be used by politicians. That is just part of the problem.

Awash with money, thanks to generous budgetary allocations, NYS is now widely regarded as a veritable conduit for siphoning public funds.

This was made manifest by Ms Waiguru when she called a news conference to claim she nipped in the bud an attempt to steal a whopping Sh826 million via a stolen password. So, she said, she wrote to the anti-graft agencies to investigate. But she was reacting to breaking stories about corruption at NYS.

The President sent ministers and other prominent people home because they were named in what the media have called the graft “list of shame”. The investigations against some were incomplete; there was no evidence against others and yet others were simply mentioned in regard to graft. Some simply stayed put despite these adverse references.

But now the President says Ms Waiguru cannot step aside and be investigated. I say what is good for Charity Ngilu’s, Mr Davis Chirchir’s, Mr Michael Kamau’s, and Mr Kazungu Kambi’s geese must be good for Ms Waiguru’s gander. That is called fair play. But, if the President will shield Ms Waiguru from scrutiny, will he expose his deputy?

First, even with the backing of Central and Mt Kenya politicians, Ms Waiguru is small political fry compared to the DP. First, with the key to the Kalenjin vote bank in his hip pocket, the DP has in his breast pocket the magic wand of ransom. Second, to go after the DP on land matters is a political quagmire.

Three, to compound matters for the President, his allies and the DP’s claim the anti-graft war is biased against their people. The question is, does the President have the bottle for these battles? Time will tell.

Opanga is a media consultant; [email protected]