We must punish corrupt individuals if we are serious about war on graft

Budalang’i MP and ODM Secretary-General Ababu Namwamba loves to project the image of an urbane, cosmopolitan, suave, youthful leader. So does Tharaka-Nithi Senator Kithure Kindiki, who leads the TNA majority.

But we have seen that when selfish self-interest takes priority, those leaders who like to pose as modern and sophisticated will regress to the primitive, backward and redundant politics of ethnic mobilisation.

The two may hail from opposite sides of the political divide, but at the end of the day both expose themselves as no more than petty tribalists ready to hide their iniquities under the shelter of ethnic numbers.

When Mr Namwamba, as chairman of the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee, faced accusations of corruption, he did not just set out to prove his innocence, he also vowed to tar everybody else with the same brush. What he was saying, in effect, is that if he did take bribes to doctor PAC reports, he should not be singled out because everybody else was doing the same.

Just as ridiculous was his parading of an entire battalion of MPs from the Luhya community before the House Powers and Privileges Committee investigating corruption in his influential watchdog committee.

The unspoken message was that the inquiry should tread with caution because he was not alone, but had the backing of the entire Luhya. That was his way of finding shelter under the hackneyed “our people are being finished” defence.

CARRY OWN CROSS

And this is where Kithure Kindiki, a fellow who claims a doctorate in law, comes in. Prof Kindiki was demanding a proper probe of graft in Parliament and warning Mr Namwamba to carry his own cross without dragging the names of other people into his problems.

He spoilt everything when he defended Maara MP Kareke Mbiuki, one of the PAC members fingered by Mr Namwamba. The support was not based on the MP’s established innocence, piety and fidelity to the law; it was simply that he was from Tharaka-Nithi, and the senator was duty-bound to “protect our own”. “We will join hands and fight to the last bit” in support of Mr Mbiuki, Mr Kindiki exhorted the crowd at a public rally, an agitation echoed by other local leaders present.

Mr Namwamba and Prof Kindiki both publicly display similar retarded and retrogressive thinking that places them closer to the dinosaur politicians of the last millennium than the progressive leaders required of this generation.

This country cannot afford leaders who seek safety under the ethnic umbrella when accused of stealing from their own people. Any leader who steals from the public coffers steals alone and eats alone. He does not share the loot with his community. Thus, the loud rejection that should come from the Luhya people and those from Tharaka-Nithi when their leaders try to herd them into collective guilt.

STERN WARNING

Just the other day, President Uhuru Kenyatta issued a stern warning that those caught with their hands in the till must face up to their crimes as individuals, not seek to rope in their ethnic communities.

They stole as individuals and enjoyed the loot alone, not as representatives of the Kikuyu, Kalenjin, Luo, Meru, Luhya, Pokot, or any other grouping. That was President Kenyatta’s strongest statement against graft since his election on a manifesto that steered wide off corruption.

Perhaps he is finally realising that the re-emergence of grand corruption under the Jubilee administration is the biggest threat to his leadership. Now the President must go beyond lip service. The problem is that he was elected on a platform that deliberately rejected Chapter 6 of the Constitution on ethics and integrity in leadership.

That opened the floodgates for all manner of sleazy characters, some facing criminal charges, to enter public service, both elected and appointed, in complete disregard of the law.

If the President willingly populated his government and political party with characters that cannot pass the integrity test, he will have only himself to blame when corruption entrenches itself in his administration.

Public statements and executive orders mean nothing unless backed by strong action. Kenyans demand nothing less than the jailing of corrupt individuals, as well as the immediate enforcement of Chapter 6.

[email protected]. @MachariaGaitho on Twitter.