The anti-corruption gauntlet thrown to the private sector by President Uhuru recently was certainly a wise move. It is a fact that it takes two to tango, and in matters corruption, the private sector is most certainly an expert dancer. There is no way the multi-billion shilling corrupt deals in which public officers are implicated could be solo dances. Somebody does corrupt the officers, and that somebody is most likely private. Indeed, this has been confirmed by a study in which Kenya’s private sector was listed among the most corrupt in the world. Thirty per cent of Kenyan companies were found to have greased their way into winning government tenders and contracts. That is why the roping in of key private sector leaders in the war against corruption could be a major plank in crossing this treacherous chasm.
When Siemens AG, the largest engineering company in Europe, was found to engage in major corruption scandals, Peter Solmssen was part of the group that Siemens CEO Peter Löscher brought in to help clean up the company’s institutional culture. Speaking later at a United Nations Global Compact Leaders’ Summit, Solmssen made significant observations about the importance of multi-sectoral cooperation in the fight against corruption. He observed that corruption in the private sector is often fueled by stiff competition. However, he argued, industry players must learn to cooperate on setting ethical standards, even while competing commercially. This sort of cooperation, he said, can lead to significant change: “If we, the major companies and, really, anyone in private industry, link arms, we can drive corruption out of our markets. I call it the Cartel of the Good. If we cooperate, then there is no bribery.”
Without doubt, Kenya desperately needs this Cartel of the Good — drawn from every sector of our society — in order to drive corruption out of our nation.
It is therefore encouraging to see how sections of the private sector have taken up the President’s challenge with practical gusto. Several have gone ahead to declare that they will not engage in business with any blacklisted entities. Safaricom, KCB, EABL, Chandaria, and others have made commitments not to join the gravy train. With some of these companies having painfully undertaken their own in-house cleansing, there appears to be hope that they will carry the same resolve to the public arena. Thankfully, even the Church seems ready to join this Cartel of the Good.
At a three-day national convention of the Evangelical Alliance of Kenya (EAK), Church leaders made a strong resolve to join in the fight against corruption. Meeting at the KICC under the theme, “From Now On...,” the hundreds of leaders and members of the Alliance launched a national transformation agenda to make Kenya a better place to live in. Among other things, they resolved that from now on, corruption must be driven out of all sectors of the society, including the Church.
EAK is therefore developing a Code of Conduct which all its member churches and leaders will be required to sign. The Code, which is to be launched early next year, will commit the churches who sign it to upholding ethical practices within all spheres of their operations. They will bind themselves to transparent dealings with their members and with the public. They will therefore voluntarily submit themselves to regular audits, peer scrutiny, and internal discipline. Those who decline to sign the Code will be considered to have excluded themselves from the Alliance.
With all these initiatives, it would appear that there is forming a Cartel of the Good. Even the pressure by the Opposition leaders over alleged corruption scandals should be taken positively — with the hope that they are genuine members of the Cartel. As the President put it, corruption must be made painful to its perpetrators. The world must be made small for those whose appetite for sleaze proves insatiable.
Yet, Solmssen rightly observes that fighting corruption is no walk in the park. “It’s a constant struggle,” he notes. “The bad guys are clever. You close one door and they try to get through another.” Hence, only through our collective resolve can we ensure that all the doors are closed and thus rid our nation of this muck.
