Reviving economy should be our priority, not politicking

I have been wracking my brain trying to figure out what the folk who are publicly exonerating criminal suspects are about without much success.

This is because it is difficult to understand how a leader can come up with all sorts of specious excuses for such individuals, suggesting that the suspects are victims of a witch-hunt orchestrated by people who wish to thwart their political ambitions.

At this rate, the war against corruption will never get anywhere.

The latest salvo by a number of politicians from Rift Valley and parts of Central Kenya is quite telling.

It was sparked by a declaration by Jubilee Secretary-General Raphael Tuju that the party intends to lock out all those tainted by scandal from the party leadership during the long-awaited elections.

For saying what, in other circumstances, would be common sense, Mr Tuju was vilified and even his loyalty to Jubilee questioned.

Such are the wonders of 'Politics Made in Kenya': they defy any rational explanation, and defending the indefensible seems to have become a fad.

PLUG THE GAP

Why would anyone quarrel with the idea of pre-empting the election of thieves, grabbers, rustlers, smugglers, money launderers, and all sorts of ne’er-do-wells by barring them well ahead of time?

Why is it so difficult to understand that if this country continues to be throttled by professional raiders of public coffers, there will be no country left to bequeath our progeny?

The legal principle that everyone is presumed innocent until found guilty still holds, but this should not excuse fellows who have proved that besides thievery, they hardly know what they are doing.

As far as I can tell from newspaper reports, all that Mr Tuju was doing was to reiterate what is in the party constitution.

The other concern is that only a small clique of politicians seems to have issues with questions of integrity.

As a matter of record, most of these folks coalescing around Deputy President William Ruto are sending a subliminal message that it is he who is being targeted, which cannot be very flattering.

Surely, with friends like these, why should DP Ruto need enemies?

DAMAGED SOCIETY

Maybe my reading of this knee-jerk propensity to respond with fire and brimstone whenever the subject of corruption is mentioned is a little superficial, but such a furore has become too common these days when a bunch of politicians see betrayal on every issue of national importance.

Indeed, it would be ridiculous to suggest that only those inclined to support the DP’s presidential aspirations are real or potential criminals.

This country is full of thieves and looters in high office and their nefarious activities are not limited to this day and age, as history will attest.

After all, the most infamous heists – Goldenberg and Anglo Leasing – took place during the tenures of past regimes and the perpetrators never saw the inside of police cells.

So, a word to the wise for the Tangatanga brigade: stop being so defensive on matters integrity – you are in good company.

Very few of the institutions of governance are clean anyway, and a majority of commissions and quasi-government enterprises are also rotten to the core.

SOWING INTEGRITY

Another piece of advice to the same group from a person who lays no claim to insider knowledge about the workings of a captive State: get rid of that mindset which goes by the phrase “sense of entitlement”.

This mindset is ugly, for it blinds one to the bigger, all-encompassing picture.

However, almost everyone in politics aspires for higher office and no person should be condemned for being ambitious or indicating it in word and deed.

Kenya belongs to us all and those working to eliminate the influence of tyranny of numbers or cheating during elections are to be encouraged, not condemned.

That is why I have become a late convert to the need for a national referendum to settle some of the issues that have made inclusivity a mere word in the dictionary.

Judging from the past, we are in for a very turbulent start to the new decade on the political front.

UNNECESSARY POLITICKING

Unfortunately, our obsession with elections, which are two years away, means that everything else, especially the anaemic economy, is in danger of being relegated to the periphery.

Incessant politicking is the reason why we, as a country, have seriously failed to get our priorities right.

The fact that nobody of note is in jail does not mean that those mandated to fight corruption are fast asleep; it just means that the graft monster is fighting back with all the resources at its disposal.

But Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti and Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji cannot give up now, however frustrated they may be.

Runaway corruption, lack of accountability and negative ethnicity are the reasons why Kenya has been rapidly sliding backwards with each passing day.

Mr Ngwiri is a consultant editor; [email protected].