Be honest and consistent to win graft war

A fire and rescue officer from Meru displays money recovered from a pit latrine at the Imenti North CDF Offices on August 13, 2015. A woman suspected of soliciting bribes to offer paralegal services is alleged to have dumped the money in the latrine. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • We must realise that there is a general Kenyan conception of government operations that has been formed over the last 50 five years of our independence.
  • If a Kenyan has worked for other Kenyans for all his working life and when he goes to the NSSF to collect his dues his file cannot be found until he gives something to somebody.

There are many definitions of a commonly used phenomenon in everyday speech known as culture.

The one definition I find most appropriate in describing the process of the formation of a people’s perception — a function of culture — goes as follows; “Culture is the basis upon which a group of people or even a society interprets their experience of the world around them and orders their relationships into a coherent way of life.”

To achieve this level of competence each member of that group or society must go through a process known as socialisation.

When all members of that group or society have been socialised into this basis upon which they interpret their surroundings, they then all form a common perception and continually act in a way that is guided by that perception and over time they know no other way.

UPHILL BATTLE

When we look at such people operating that way we see that as their culture. The truth is that creating a culture such as that is a very easy process because it is only about doing things — whether good or bad — and repeating the same things over and over again.

If a time comes when, for whatever reason that culture has to be broken or called off, that can be an uphill battle.

In this country there is a war that has been started. I believe it is one that should have happened earlier but certainly all is not lost if the fight is sustained.

I am talking about the battle against corruption.

SURVIVAL

Any thinking and caring Kenyan knows that here we are dealing with a matter that has to do with the survival of each one of us and the future of our nation.

We, however, must realise that there is a general Kenyan conception of government operations that has been formed over the last 50 five years of our independence.

Surely if a Kenyan has worked for other Kenyans for all his working life and when he goes to the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) to collect his dues his file cannot be found until he gives something to somebody, he does so because he is a Kenyan and he has accepted that kind of mentality. That is our culture.

SHOOT DOWN REPORT

Does he or she have a choice? The Kenyan population has accepted that kind of thinking. How about how we Kenyans deal with our policemen on the roads or in other places even where death is involved? It is the culture.

A culture once established is difficult to uproot. Only determination and honesty can do it. Look at what happened in Parliament the other day.

We are told members there were given money to shoot down a report. Are we truly going to win this war?

Fr Wamugunda is the Dean of Students, Univeristy of Nairobi. [email protected].