Kenyans must rise up and demand accountability as graft levels soar

National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale addresses the press at Parliament Buildings on February 5, 2016. Mr Duale comes fairly close in the pecking order since he drives the government’s legislative agenda in the House. PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Mr Duale is happy that all three arms of government: the Judiciary, the Executive and the Legislature are now engulfed in corruption.
  • The most recent revelations of corruption in the Judiciary have, therefore, provided a useful shield for the Executive, its leaders and their old-order mentality.
  • Working together, citizens can apply the tools — protests, legal action, petitioning and picketing — to maximum effect.

One of Kenya’s happiest citizens at the moment is the leader of majority in the National Assembly, one Aden Bare Duale.

He has been gloating over recent revelations of corruption in the Judiciary and asking Dr Willy Mutunga to resign.

Mr Duale is happy that all three arms of government: the Judiciary, the Executive and the Legislature are now engulfed in corruption.

The Executive is controlled by politicians. At the top of the pecking order is the Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.

In his current position and role, Mr Duale comes fairly close in the pecking order since he drives the government’s legislative agenda in the House.

And this is the problem. When accusations of corruption are levelled against the Executive arm of Government, Mr Duale is one of those who feel the heat.

This is why in the past weeks, he has taken it upon himself to answer opposition leader Raila Odinga’s damaging accusations based on revelations of corruption in the Executive.

Unfortunately for him, even without Mr Odinga, the stink in government has simply been too much.

From the National Youth Service (NYS) saga that led to the resignation from government of one of the most powerful Cabinet Secretaries, Ms Anne Mumbi Waiguru, to the Eurobond that simply defies all manner of explanations by the mandarins at Treasury, the stench of corruption is getting stronger.

The most recent revelations of corruption in the Judiciary have, therefore, provided a useful shield for the Executive, its leaders and their old-order mentality.

Add to this the fact that Dr Mutunga has his roots in civil society and was supposed to be a no-nonsense reformer fighting the ghosts of past and present judicial corruption, and one understands why there is loud clinking of wine glasses in the Executive at the moment.

POWER TO THE PEOPLE
Because corruption is not going anywhere soon, the three arms of government will continue to compete over which one is the most corrupt.

The Judiciary will keep looking like the house of cards that it is; the Executive will discover new depths to sink to. As for Parliament, the less said, the better.

There is an interesting school of thought that states that heightened public discussion about corruption is more proof of the heightened level of awareness of corruption among citizens than the fact that there is more corruption.

Even though I am very sceptical about the postulations of this school of thought, the point here is that the missing link to a more effective fight against corruption is the people; citizens.

The Constitution has given Kenyans many tools that have only been partly applied.

Working together, citizens can apply the tools — protests, legal action, petitioning and picketing — to maximum effect.

These are the tools that the National Civil Society Congress (NCSC) intends to utilise in the coming weeks to demand accountability in the saga involving members of Parliament after last year’s investigations by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC).

NCSC started its action late last year when it petitioned the EACC, the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Speaker of the National Assembly to take action against corrupt MPs.

The organisation is now planning to go to court in a case in which the public interest is simply overwhelming.

And as a final word on this issue, devolution has given us a very important framework of organising — and a key incentive: that of enhancing service provision at devolved government level.

The writer is the president of the National Civil Society Congress (NCSC). [email protected]