President Uhuru Kenyatta's dressing down of top Government officials at the fortnightly State House Summit was a huge disappointment. That is because, like his senior officials, Mr Kenyatta seemingly chose to distance himself from the glaring inadequacies of institutions of his Government charged with fighting corruption.
It is easy to appreciate the President's frustrations. For despite the financial outlay in institutions like the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, the Attorney General, the Police, the Judiciary, the Director of Public Prosecutions and Parliament, official corruption thrives unabated. Corruption "is the greatest threat to our security" said the President during the State of the Nation address in March last year. Then, a population seemingly inured to the thieving ways of the ruling class couldn't agree more with him.
Yet on Tuesday, President Kenyatta blamed everybody but himself for the ineffectual war on corruption. His contention is that his hands are tied, and couldn't therefore fire incompetent State officers. But it is not enough to simply tell Kenyans he cannot fire inept officers. This is tantamount to surrendering to corruption cartels holding the country at ransom. He is the President and has control of the National Assembly where laws are made. For example, it was not hard for him to marshal MPs to change the law to assume the powers to hire and fire the Inspector General of Police in the wake of debilitating terror attacks. The same can be done for institutions that are impeding the fight against corruption.
Research has shown that societies where corruption is rampant are poorer and less equal; the rich are so rich while the poor are so poor. When politicians engage in corrupt acts, they reduce or take away what should ideally go into development for schools, water, medicine or roads. Corruption also puts off those keen to invest in the economy by making the cost of doing business exorbitant.
During an interview with a Dutch Newspaper last year, former Chief Justice Willy Mutunga said the country was in the grips of powerful Mafia-like cartels that were propagating corruption. As the Chief Justice, he knew what he was talking about.
A World Bank report (later reiterated by US President Barack Obama) estimates that every year, corruption costs Kenya a staggering 250,000 jobs in a country where 70 per cent of the population are jobless youth.
The ghosts of high profile corruption keep haunting the country. Kenyans, to date, know very little about the National Youth Service heist in which at least Sh1.8 billion was reportedly stolen. Numerous questions abound over the $2.82 billion Eurobond sale in 2014. Did the money find its way into the economy or did it line up people's pockets? Treasury has painstakingly repeated that all the money can be accounted for. The Opposition and civil society disagree.
Though he has been categorical that the war on corruption is on course, many Kenyans do not share the President's conviction and have waited to see what new steps he will take to fight off what he described last year thus: "Corruption robs us of our security, our prosperity and our health. Corruption turns us against one another, it robs us of hope, it kills."
Looking back, dismissing a third of his Cabinet on corruption charges might not have been reassuring enough, but shifting the blame will certainly not deliver the desired the results.
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