The anti-graft war could fizzle out as a result of indecision

President Uhuru Kenyatta delivers his State of the Nation address at Parliament on April 4, 2019. PHOTO | NTV

What you need to know:

  • Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, facing a national narcotics crisis, didn’t hesitate to go on an assassination spree targeting notorious drug dealers.
  • The rule of law works well only when those involved play their part as they should.

It is wishful thinking to expect the anti-corruption war will be won through platitudes or appeals to patriotism.

You can talk all you want about due process and how you deplore “vigilante justice”.

The reality of the matter is that anybody who is serious about killing corruption must be ready to crack bones. Margaret Thatcher broke all accepted rules when she crushed the British miners’ unions and made it impossible for them to paralyse the country through strikes — ever again.

CRISIS

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, facing a national narcotics crisis, didn’t hesitate to go on an assassination spree targeting notorious drug dealers.

He vowed he would kill so many of them that the fish in Manila Bay where their bodies would be dumped “would grow fat”. You don’t mess with Duterte.

The drug lords have fled or shifted to safer lines of business. Do I hear the disapproval about extrajudicial executions? Sure, that is what they were.

But there was no judiciary worth speaking of to enforce the rule of law. Many judges had been pocketed by the drug gangs.

The vacuum in law enforcement created Duterte. The Filipino public, tired of the drug mafias, applauded his brutal crackdown.

CORRUPTION

The rule of law works well only when those involved play their part as they should. When there is a breakdown in the chain, we experience the levels of corruption we see in our country. We are waking up every morning to revelations of billions stolen in this ministry or that parastatal.

Are we saying the threshold for firing those implicated in corruption is only when they are charged in court? God help us.

And are we saying that top officers under whom this wanton plunder is taking place can evade accountability because of something called due process?

My mother taught me long ago that when you try to please everybody, you end up pleasing nobody. You can’t defeat corruption by hedging on the middle ground. That’s indecision. You must take a stand.

If the rules tie your hands, you scrap those rules. President Kenyatta’s unremarkable State of the Nation speech on Thursday was the usual menu we have come to expect: All bark, no bite. Big talk, zero resolve.

FANTASY

Duterte got it right, damn his methods. To expect the Judiciary as presently constituted to lead the war against corruption is a fantasy. Almost every judge of the Supreme Court is under a swirl of horrible allegations of misconduct or bribery.

The Number Two in the court is battling against prosecution for sleaze and abuse of office in a case which has taken more than one suspicious turn.

A ranking member of the Court of Appeal has been accused by a petitioner of being a conveyor belt for bribes in that court.

The Judicial Service Commission (JSC) is a den of cronyism, unaccountable and captive of those same judges it is supposed to oversight.

An independent judiciary that lacks integrity is not worth its independence. It reminds me of those churches led by con men, thieves and charlatans whose greed is only matched by their lust. And the Law Society of Kenya? Good grief.

COMPLIANCE CERTIFICATE

The other day it allowed its members who vie for a JSC seat to do so without the bother of a tax compliance certificate. Is this the body that is meant to instil integrity across the legal fraternity? What’s the use of Chapter 6 in the Constitution?

Why would others be expected to care about the so-called rule of law?

Bizarrely, the JSC has moved unusually fast to discipline the only truly erudite member of the judicial bench in circumstances that have raised more questions than answers.

The firing of High Court judge Joseph Mutava, a Goldenberg casualty, which the President was quick to take credit for, is what is called a damp squib.

Already a tribunal had recommended his removal and the decision affirmed by the Supreme Court. His misconduct was too glaring for anybody to cover it up.

TAXES

Ahead of the President’s Thursday speech, there was an unusual stream of State House tweets. Sample one: “High net worth persons whose lifestyles are not reflective of the taxes they pay must be compelled to demonstrate the source of their wealth.” More hot air.

What became of those lifestyle audits? Anybody heard of them after the idea was floated last year?

I like Musalia Mudavadi’s take on all this. “Mr President, you can’t be the whistle-blower in your own government.

You can’t be pushed into an opposition corner in your own party. You must punch. Your hands are not tied.”

Enough said.

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A Twitter user calling himself Shiundu Shiundu had summarised rather well what the President would say in his big speech: “President Uhuru Kenyatta is set to warn all corrupt state officers in his address today (Thursday). It’s going to be noisy with no casualties.”