President Uhuru’s double-speak on corruption sends mixed signals

“It is important that we acknowledge that the greatest roadblock to effective government is corruption. Asking for bribes or paying them weakens systems and destroys hope. The most heroic action you can take as a citizen is to ensure that in all our counties, towns, cities and villages, we denounce all forms of corruption and refuse to participate in this scourge.”

The above statement is a verbatim quotation from the President’s speech on Mashujaa Day. The President has on numerous occasions since inauguration not only openly acknowledged the problem corruption poses but also urged members of the public to report any corruption as part of their civic and patriotic duty.

More recently, the head of state has cautioned Kenyans to make only claims that they can substantiate. This was in the context of the Karen land saga. This statement leaves most scratching their heads.

By its very nature, corruption is as far as possible carried out in a covert and shadowy manner by incognito operators. A celebrated local cartoonist actually depicts characters associated with corruption as faceless beings.

We are, therefore, flummoxed that the President expects that whistle blowers out rightly substantiate any reports of corruption they make. No one has ever sufficiently substantiated the claims made in the Goldenberg and Anglo Leasing scams. This is why although we know monies vanished from treasury; no one is in jail for these crimes.

In my opinion, the most a whistleblower can do is to bring attention to the issue at hand. While in some instances the whistleblower’s concerns will not be fully supported, these inconveniences are worth the evil that is averted when the whistleblower is right.

In the Karen land melee that the President was referring to, the presence of multiple title deeds, companies whose directors are names that are closely associated with powerful operatives in the government and the initial unwillingness of police to enforce court orders are sufficient cause of concern. This is hardly a case of the usual suspects crying wolf.

Because of the nature of evildoing, discretion and smarts is the name of the game when it comes to corrupt deals. It is highly unlikely that a powerful government official with all the lawyers that his power and money put at his disposal would use his own name or that of a company directly associated with him to execute such schemes when a simple search of the company would reveal him as the evil doer. More often, names of proxies will be used.

This explains the bravado with which many of those accused of involvement in these shady deals invite the whistleblowers to substantiate. They know just how difficult they have already made any such endeavour!

In any event perpetuating high level corruption is neither for the unconnected nor the powerless. Grand malfeasance can only be accomplished by those who wield power and influence. This, however, does not mean that patriotic citizens should be muzzled.

While responsible whistleblowing must be practiced, it would be absurd to require that all corruption allegations are fully substantiated at the point they are made. Such certainty requires in-depth investigation by competent authority. Unfortunately even our ‘competent’ bodies rarely come up with substance and have themselves been accused of corruption!

In all fairness, the Government has itself made far more unsubstantiated claims. After the Mpeketoni attacks, a strong statement blaming the opposition for the attacks was issued. It has of course never been substantiated.

Unlike the opposition, the government cannot claim inaction by the investigating authorities as the reason the claims on the Mpeketoni attacks, or Westgate, or alleged plans to overthrow the government on Saba Saba remain unproven. To require others to achieve a standard that even you cannot achieve is an instance of vicious double standards.

I hazard a guess that this is the reason opposition chiefs failed to show up at EACC offices on Wednesday. They know the queue to substantiate is long.