Kenyans blame leaders over Corruption
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By Susan Anyangu and Abiya Ochola The war on corruption is far from over. In fact, graft seems to be getting out of hand and Kenyans are blaming the Grand Coalition Government for tolerating the vice, according to a new report. President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga are on the receiving end with 76 per cent of those polled saying the war on corruption is being impeded by the leaders’ lack of will power to end graft. A national corruption opinion poll released yesterday by Transparency International – Kenya (TI), indicates that about eight of every 10 Kenyans believe that although Kibaki and Raila have the requisite power and ability, they lack the will to tackle the vice. "The entire State has been captured to a certain extent by corrupt interests. Nearly every institution of governance and service delivery is working in the interest of a small group of people who profit from it," said Job Ogonda, Executive Director, Transparency International–Kenya. The poll also reveals that Parliament ranks highly as one of the public institutions that respondents view as contributing most to the failure of the anti-graft war. Coming shortly after reports of massive graft in maize and oil sectors, the survey sought to establish whether Kenyans have confidence in the coalition’s intention to tackle corruption. Many felt the Government was not sincere. Kenyans also blame Parliament for failing in the war against corruption, hence they would like to see more conclusive prosecutions of individuals implicated in mega scandals. They also felt that the re-emergence of post-election violence was highly likely should the current administration fail to effectively institute anti-corruption reforms "This opinion was consistent even when analysed from rural-urban, gender and age characteristics of the sample," said Mwangi Kibathi, a programme officer with TI-Kenya. The chair of the board of directors of TI, Ms Huguette Labelle, said the corruption perception survey was a clear indication that the public strongly supports constitutional reforms. "No country is immune to corruption, however, when there is a high level of graft and poverty, trust erodes quickly. The public begins to lose faith in their leaders," Labelle said. The opinion poll comes at a time when the Grand Coalition Government has just marked one year since its formation. Financial scams The highlights of the coalition’s first year in power have included successive corruption scandals, which have left the Government in a quagmire, pitting the two partners against each other. Public institutions that the respondents thought were contributing to most to the failure in the war against corruption were Parliament (25.6 per cent), Judiciary (24.5 per cent), the Executive (17.9 per cent), the Constitution (14.8 per cent) and the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (13.4 per cent). Asked what action they wanted taken about corruption in Kenya, 51 per cent of the respondents said they wanted more prosecution of corruption suspects, while 32 per cent wanted fresh elections. About 11 per cent called for a Cabinet reshuffle, while 6 per cent wanted mass action. At the centre of the corruption scandals has been the role of Parliament, which in its bid to exercise its oversight mandate has instituted censure motions against two Cabinet ministers implicated in graft. The first censure motion came after the whistle was blown on the illegal sale of the Grand Regency Hotel, now Laico Regency. Implicated in the scam was then Finance Minister Amos Kimunya under whose watch the hotel was sold under unclear circumstances to the Libyan government. Recommendations by a Parliamentary Committee investigating Kimunya’s role in the sale were rejected by Parliament after some MPs from the ODM side broke ranks with the party’s initial position, in what analysts said was a case of ‘scratch-my-back-I-will-scratch-yours’ plot. Further, those polled express fear that should the current corruption status prevail, the 2012 General Election risks being marred by chaos. "Sixty four per cent of the respondents believe that if corruption is not effectively tackled, the next elections will be followed with a spate of electoral violence. Only 36 per cent believe otherwise," the report says. Kiss house goodbye About 69 per cent of those interviewed have lost confidence in the Government’s ability to address major corruption scandals and should elections be held today, the vast majority of the current MPs will not be re-elected owing to their performance in anti-graft war. Seven in every 10 Kenyans would not re-elect their MP. This means only a paltry 62 out of the 210 elected MPs would make it back to the August House. In the run-up to the 2007 election, opinion polls indicated that nearly 70 per cent of MPs in the 9th Parliament would not be re-elected. True to their word, three quarters of MPs in the 10th Parliament are first timers. "Kenyans are not being fooled by the theatre of blame games among ministers with regards to corruption," said TI-Kenya’s executive director.