Name traders and officials in maize scam

Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mwangi Kiunjuri appears before a Senate committee on October 25, 2018. PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Last Tuesday we were told 152 traders had received millions of money from the government at the expense of genuine farmers and were still claiming more.
  • I have no doubt that if all public money that is generated through taxation did not end up in the pockets of individuals then even those men who carry those bags would have a better life.

One of the biggest negative attributes of our national life is that what is perpetually in the lips of all those who care for the present and future of this country is corruption.

A lot has been said about it by all including some of the most corrupt people in government and private sector, but very little is being done.

Sometimes one may ask if the human person is inherently corrupt. Or what it is that pushes him or her in this direction?

What is quite clear, however, is that for several decades the culture of corruption has become entrenched in our country.

Establishing a culture is all about defining reality according to the personal or community interests and going ahead to make that definition inform the behaviour pattern of a whole community or society.

DIFFICULT TO UPROOT

When that happens over a generation and sinks into the psyche of the people involved then we can now talk about a culture.

It is further reinforced if the institutions of governance and other social entities have some involvement in this process.

It may sound easy but once it is established, it is very difficult to uproot.

This is the case with “our” corruption. Mercifully, our president seems to have made up his mind to fight this monster.

It all started with demolitions of structures that had been corruptly built on land that had been earmarked for roads or on riparian land.

RECEIVED MILLIONS

People thought it would not be done but as they speculated, it started happening. Now we are on to another pet subject of the President. Maize.

The minister for agriculture has found himself in a bad place. Twice within a month he has been admonished in public by the President. Now he has passed the buck on to the EACC and the DCI.

Last Tuesday we were told 152 traders had received millions of money from the government at the expense of genuine farmers and were still claiming more. But the fight against corruption will only become real when names of real people, whatever their state is in our society, are pronounced and action taken against them.

BAGS OF MAIZE

Incidentally in the news item where the minister’s press conference was aired on TV what caught my attention was the contrast between the kind of money that was being talked about and the human beings who were featured carrying bags of maize on their backs in those National Cereals and Produce Board stores.

I have no doubt that if all public money that is generated through taxation and other means did not end up in the pockets of individuals then even those men who carry those bags would have a better life. That is what civilisation is about.

Fr Wamugunda is the dean of students and a lecturer of sociology at the University of Nairobi. [email protected]