It may be necessary that we come out and refuse to accept corruption as our culture

Nicholas Muraguri, the Principal Secretary for the Ministry of Health, at a press conference at Afya House in Nairobi on October 28, 2016. PHOTO | DENNIS ONSONGO | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • From what we see now, it is true that we moved out of the bush but the bush seems to remain in many Kenyans.

  • Our new constitution created constitutional offices and commissions to which Kenyans were appointed.

  • It would seem, however, that many of those appointees do not have the capacity to adjust to the thinking of the new constitutional order.

I saw something about the Health Principal Secretary apologising for threatening a journalist over exposure of a Sh5 billion scandal in his ministry. The conversation I read in the paper between the two seemed like a threat, not just to the journalist, but to all of us. It was characterised by arrogance and impunity. Since it was a matter related to money that has been misappropriated, that officer sounded like he was trying to hide something in that conversation. While an apology may be a polite thing to do, it certainly is not enough in my view.

Someone has to tell Kenyans the truth surrounding the Sh5 billion. It is a big shame that while people are dying for lack of proper medication and lack of equipment in health facilities in 21st century Kenya, some people are allocating to their companies and to themselves monies meant for the same. It is a terrible statement about our national psyche and how we understand our obligation to provide critical services aimed at the very survival of our race. This debate about corruption is becoming boring now.

When we passed the 2010 Constitution, we were trying to reinvent our governance. Due to the powers that had been vested in the presidency by our previous constitution, there had been a lot of abuse in public service for a long time. In fact this was the main factor that propelled the growth of a culture of corruption and impunity to the point that today there is a whole generation many of them in government that does not know any other way of running public affairs.

'THE BUSH'

Someone said long ago, “you can remove a man from the bush but you can never remove the bush out of him”. When we were agitating for a new constitution, it was as if we wanted to get out of the bush of dictatorship and plunder of public resources. After a long struggle, we achieved that in 2010. From what we see now, it is true that we moved out of the bush but the bush seems to remain in many Kenyans. Our new constitution created constitutional offices and commissions to which Kenyans were appointed. It would seem, however, that many of those appointees do not have the capacity to adjust to the thinking of the new constitutional order.

It may be necessary that we the citizens of Kenya come out and refuse to accept corruption as our culture. The legal minds among us must advise us on the legitimate measures we need to take to force our president to do the necessary constitutional cleanup.

 

Wamugunda is dean of students, University of Nairobi.