We elected these thieves, so it is our duty to kick them out of public office

A Facebook friend, Collins Wanderi, recently embarked on a series on the scourge of mega corruption in Kenya.

Mr Wanderi looked at well-documented cases of graft, complicity of the Executive, the devolution of corruption to county governments, and the capture of Parliament and other key institutions in corruption cartels.

He lamented in the Facebook musings that the Jubilee coalition regime of President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto had, two years down the line, failed to make any clear and unequivocal statement on corruption.

Mr Wanderi thought, however, that it was not too late for President Kenyatta to salvage his regime. He posited that what Kenya needed to win the war on corruption was ruthless action that would pay little heed to the legal and bureaucratic niceties that allow rich and powerful thieves to enjoy the proceeds of graft to perpetuity.

KEY SUSPECTS

I chimed in, restating my own proposal from another forum, that we could take all those reports on Goldenberg, Anglo Leasing, land grabbing, sugar and maize imports and exports, Triton oil etc, use them to identify the key suspects, and then line up all the perpetrators for public execution at Uhuru Park.

That, in my view, might be the ultimate solution, and Mr Wanderi duly noted that in China, those who steal from the public are despatched to their maker without much ado.

His view, however, was that President Kenyatta could drive such a crackdown because he was personally “clean” and had never been mentioned adversely in any investigations.

Here, I got a little bit nervous because I sensed that he was making a case for the President to be given dictatorial powers.

There may be no direct link connecting the President to corruption, but in my view anyone who happily enjoys the fruits of graft, and entertains irredeemably corrupt fellows in his political, business, and social associations, cannot claim innocence. You are the company you keep.

So who can we entrust with the sacred responsibility of identifying high society criminals for the firing squad at Uhuru Park? The Cabinet? Parliament? The Police Service? The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission? The Judiciary? The Director of Public Prosecutions? No, No, No, and No!

Actually a good start might be in lining up all the leaders of these institutions and having them take the first bullets.

I do not know who will be left standing, but as we ponder who next, we might want to take a look at the Constitution of Kenya. Chapter Six, on leadership and integrity, lays out what we should expect and demand of those we elect and appoint to leadership.

If we ignore those strictures and elect miscreants and felons simply because they are from our tribe or clan, then we have only ourselves to blame when they continue stealing from us and going on with other high crimes such as drug smuggling, rape, banditry, terrorism, cattle-rustling, and communal wars.

STAND MUTE

Ditto when we stand mute as the ruling classes bastardise the Constitution by illegally annulling Cap Six simply because some of them may be facing indictment for serious crimes and would not contemplate disqualifying themselves from public office.

Chapter Six demands that we elect or select public officers who will demonstrate respect for the people and promote public confidence in the integrity of the office.

It also demands selection on the basis of personal integrity and competence, where decisions are not influenced by nepotism, favouritism, and corruption.

The Constitution goes ahead to outline the expected standards of behaviour for public officials in both official and private life.

Those who breach the provisions should be removed from office and, further, disqualified from holding any other State office in future.

So how did we end up with Philip Ochieng’s infamous “layabouts, idlers, thieves, ne’er-do-wells, conmen, and illiterates” dominating the Kenyan leadership? You get the leaders you deserve.

We elected them and now we are now paying the price. Since there is little prospect of lawfully or unlawfully removing them mid-stream, we can only hope and pray that they do not do too much damage in the remaining period to the next elections.

Then we can re-elect our thieves, rapists, smugglers, and warlords all over again.

[email protected]. @MachariaGaitho on Twitter