The buck stops with President on fight against corruption

Apart from being an internet giant, Google is working on a self-driving car project that if actualised will see vehicles move to a destination at the push of a button without the need of a human on the wheel. Airplanes with advanced autopilot features can virtually fly themselves. It will however be quite some time before we hand over to machines complete control of our cars and planes. In the meantime, it will continue to take the conscious effort of trained drivers and pilots to operate transport vehicles.

While our President has been said to be techno savvy, it came as a shocker that he thinks the war on corruption can run on autopilot. The President was apparently confounded that the war on graft was not running itself that he felt it necessary to act immediately. He had been reportedly watching on TV the proceedings of an anti-corruption and accountability summit at State House but could not take the blame game being played by those supposed to be fighting corruption.

He barged into the meeting in a huff, hijacked the event and gave a severe dress down to the collection of hapless officers from the Judiciary, Director of Public Prosecutions, Attorney General, Auditor General and the Directorate of Criminal Investigation. A visibly irked President insisted he had done his part by providing all necessary resources, and even asking named suspects to step aside. One could tell he was literally at the end of his rope.

The scourge of corruption has often been compared to cancer. Is it reasonable to expect that a cancer that has spread throughout the body can be cured by a few painkillers and multivitamins and a determination to get better? Are not the most invasive surgeries necessary? Is chemotherapy not a process that is very exacting on the patient? The President is akin to a doctor who knows his patient has cancer but expects to write a single prescription and leave the rest to others.

When the President says he has done all he can, yet the problem persists, what is mwananchi supposed to conclude? That nothing more can be done? Has the President used Jubilee’s majority in Parliament to pass laws that empower him personally to be more effective in fighting corruption? Has he considered that the very bodies charged with fighting corruptions are themselves corrupt?

Those who follow the game of football will invariably witness a manager under pressure to produce results not only fail to do so, but provide ‘reasons’ for failure at a press conference. The best managers in the business are often media savvy and use the media to play mind games and deflect the spotlight from their teams, allowing them to play without the weight of undue expectations on their shoulders. Less gifted coaches go into what are known as rants or tirades. Basically exploding in a fit of rage and finger pointing, blaming everybody but themselves for the poor run of results.

Football managers do not get into the pitch themselves to play the game. Why then are they necessary? Could teams not just get a conglomeration of talented players and tell them to do their best? Why is it that some managers will win titles with apparently weak teams while others will be perennial underachievers even with the very best of lineups?

It is such questions that our President must ponder. It will not do to say that he has done all he can as a manager, admit that it has come to nothing and at the same time maintain that he wants another five year contract. No sir. The buck stops with you, Mr President. We admire your sincerity admitting you are overwhelmed but do not call impossible what you cannot do.