This is the time for EACC to prove it has teeth

Alarmed by the rising cases of leaders acting with impunity and getting away with it, the chairman of the Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution (CIC), Mr Charles Nyachae, has, through a letter written to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), demanded that these leaders be prosecuted.

The basis for the request is that the leaders the commission cited for investigations have failed the test of Chapter Six of the Kenya Constitution 2010 on Leadership and Integrity.

The Leadership and Integrity Act (2012) sets the parameters within which leaders must behave and act while holding public office.

The chapter demands personal integrity, impartiality, objectivity, selflessness and support of the spirit of the law from leaders who must as well support public integrity. The chapter further demands that whether in public places, official places, in private or in association with other persons, a state officer shall behave in a manner that avoids demeaning the office he or she holds.

Under the same chapter on integrity, Parliament was empowered to set up the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) for the express purpose of ensuring that the constitutional provisions were adhered to by all leaders.

It is, however, regrettable that the anti-corruption body has failed to act on the indiscretions and blatant abuse of office by some public and state officers.

More than three years after its formation, the anti-corruption body is yet to act tough on leaders, even in the face of blatant abuse of office, or on the basis of unbecoming behavior exhibited publicly.

The disgraceful incident of MPs fighting in the august House during debate on the Security Laws (Amendment) Bill 2014 in December last year, is still fresh in the minds of Kenyans.

But the enthusiasm by the ethics body to take action against MPs found culpable appears to have fizzled out.

In support of its demand for action against leaders, the CIC has highlighted various cases, amongst them the slapping incident involving Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero and Women Representative Rachel Shebesh, and others that breached the law regarding personal integrity.

When the parties involved are allowed to settle such embarrassing matters outside court, then we question the relevance of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption body and the need for creating laws that are so easily rendered ineffectual.

Politicians have been able to get away with behaviour that demeans the high offices they hold.

The private armed bodyguards that accompany some of them have been accused of harassing motorists and pedestrians alike.

Members of County Assemblies fight in the chambers over issues that require sober deliberation, yet none of them has been disciplined in accordance with the laid down laws.

MPs and some senators have openly propagated hate speech through their vile postings on social media and utterances at public meetings across the country. They don’t even get as much as a rap on the knuckles.

The latest incident is one of an elected MP using foul language in public, while invoking the name of the President to intimidate civil servants.

Enough evidence exists for the EACC to act on these cases and perhaps show that it is not a worthless drain on the National Exchequer.

EACC must go beyond the routine of issuing summonses to offenders, recording statements from them and consequently, allowing the matters to quietly fade away.

The public expects the commission to dig in, execute its mandate and, without fear or favour, tackle all the cases of abuse of office by leaders that have been brought to its attention, expeditiously.

So far, it is only the case brought against a former deputy chief justice for pinching the nose of a security guard at a supermarket that ran its full course.