Travel bans are hardly the way to fight endemic graft in Kenya

Busia Senator Amos Wako reacts to his US travel ban at Parliament buildings on November 20, 2019. This means that neither he, nor his wife or son can set foot in the US. PHOTO | SALATON NJAU | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • What would be more helpful is for the US government to provide names and cast-iron evidence to the Kenyan authorities so that action can be taken.
  • Travel bans are certainly not the way to fight corruption in Kenya. At the same time, we Kenyans ought to be ashamed of ourselves.

In my view, the hottest news of the week was the travel sanctions slapped on Busia Senator Amos Wako and two members of his family by the American State Department.

The senator, who was the country’s Attorney-General for 20 years, has, in the delightful parlance of American bureaucracy, been ‘designated’ due to his involvement in significant corruption.

This means that neither he, nor his wife or son can set foot in the US, which “sends a strong signal that the United States is a valuable partner in Kenya’s fight against corruption”.

Since no more details were provided by our partner in fighting graft, Kenyans are at a loss.

We don’t know what Mr Wako did or failed to do to earn that dubious honour, but it is fact that during his two decades as AG, not a single prominent raider of the country’s public coffers was successfully prosecuted and punished.

This leads to the speculation that the very important thieves have always been under some kind of protection.

KNEE-JERK SOLUTION

Presumably, that is where the man from Busia comes in. In the past, no one could have been prosecuted without the say-so of the AG’s office.

Many of them richly deserved prosecution or even jail terms, but decades later, they are still enjoying their ill-gotten wealth.

It is quite possible that Mr Wako could not have prosecuted the mega-graft suspects during the Moi and Kibaki administrations because his hands were tied – those implicated were the country’s political, economic and administrative movers and shakers.

In fact, it can be assumed that any attempt in that respect would have abruptly cut short the man’s career.

Where there is no political will to fight corruption, the only way to survive is to look the other way when the big guns are involved and go down heavily on chicken thieves and errant clerks.

In any case, the kleptocrats, money-launderers and public land grabbers are not so stupid as to keep their loot in the country; they have offshore numbered accounts where they hide it.

As many commentators have pointed out, the action by the US State Department may have consequences for the individual concerned, but it won’t help in the fight against corruption.

APPROPRIATE STEP

Not everyone is raring to travel to the United States or to do business there.

Not every lord of corruption gives a hoot about sanctions as long as they can access the money they stole and hid.

In that sense, travel bans are completely ineffective. Therefore, unless it is followed up by action against other suspects, the ban on Mr Wako will turn out to be a non-event.

What would be more helpful is for the US government to provide names and cast-iron evidence to the Kenyan authorities so that action can be taken.

But even that has not worked in the past. It is possible the Americans and their European counterparts have provided that kind of proof in the past, but past governments were reluctant to act.

Some of these revelations may have cut too close to home and implicated individuals who were too powerful.

Indeed, those who give Mr Wako the benefit of the doubt say his main problem was failure to prosecute the corrupt after political pressure not to do so.

STATE PRIDE

A few examples of this failure are the Goldenberg scandal of the early 1990s, during which the country lost almost Sh100 billion, and the Anglo Leasing scandal of 1997 when more than Sh90 billion was lost.

None of the alleged perpetrators of either scandal has spent time in jail, and very little of the money lost has been recovered. Instead, some of the prime suspects died while still fighting inconclusive charges in court.

Mr Wako’s long reign straddled both the above scandals and two administrations, but considering the magnitude of present-day corruption scandals, one actually fails to see why the man was singled out for censure.

Travel bans are certainly not the way to fight corruption in Kenya. At the same time, we Kenyans ought to be ashamed of ourselves.

There is no reason why we should expect foreigners to wage anti-corruption battles for us when we have institutions that should do the job. Where is our pride as a sovereign nation?

* * * *

Could someone please explain to me as though I was a child why people who are distressed about falling revenues should repair to a Mombasa hotel to discuss how to plug the shortfall?

Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko and his chief officers have reportedly been holed up in that ‘foreign’ city trying to figure out how to boost revenues in their own county.

If they can’t look at themselves in the mirror and figure out where the problem lies, then the county dwellers are in a hopeless situation.

The millions of shillings the county chiefs will spend in a beach resort could have stayed right here in Nairobi. But no, they must have their fun while deciding what new rates to impose on taxpayers.

Mr Ngwiri is a consultant editor; [email protected]