Fight against graft seems to be a self-defeating exercise

Not a day passes here in Kenya without the media splashing tales of corruption. So entrenched is the vice that many now see it as a normal way of life. People now tend to offer bribes even before being asked to do so.

Very few people have the guts to confront the vice, for fear of being fought back .

Whistle-blowers not only require guts to come forward to report corruption cases. Theirs is a risky undertaking, treacherous process of gathering evidence undetected and delivering the same to the authority in trust.

But the government, instead of protecting witnesses, is keen to protect culprits, even assisting them to cover their tracks while pursuing the informers.

As a country, we are known to circumvent the process of the law, depending on our tribal or political affiliations. We hold rallies, instead of going to churches to pray for crooks, to galvanise political support. Prayer rallies are used to attack and demonise upright citizens, indirectly implying that those with money and political influence are above the law.

Over the years, the State has provided lip service when it comes witness protection and many have lost their jobs, ending up with shattered lives.

Because of the elaborate network of corruption, the informers (whistle-blowers) are no match against the cartels of corruption bleeding this nation. Reprisal attacks are used to cover up corruption and also cow and intimidate people from confronting the vice.

Bureaucrats, whose sole interest is to safeguard citizens and taxpayers’ funds, have become vultures instead. They either steal from the public coffers or through their networks, collude to defraud Government through inflated costs while procuring goods.

But why is corruption so entrenched in Kenya and why is the authority silenced when it comes to tackling the vice?

It appears as everybody is corrupt and nobody is willing to throw the first stone. Our politicians, the clergy, law enforcement agencies etc are all housed in glass houses and fear reprisal attack, should they raise a finger against corrupt cartels.

The agency mandated to tackle corruption is a toothless dog known to bark but cannot bite. Successive senior officers working at the anti-corruption agency who fail to favour certain interests have been hounded out of office unceremoniously to cripple investigations and prosecution. Their performance has been weakened by lack of political goodwill.

We cannot wish away tribalism and politics as a major factor that has helped to aggravate the culture of corruption here in Kenya. Individuals under investigations are known to galvanise political support amongst kinsmen, which they use to bargain for their freedom from economic crimes.

Looted cash is a major source of campaign funds, channelled to parties and to individual politicians. Corrupt individuals do this not only to compromise political hard stance of a candidate but also to indirectly gain control of government, once a new government is created.

In a country where politics is money and voters conscience is heavily compromised, the likely people who stand a chance of winning an election with a comfortable majority are people who have looted.

It is therefore foolhardy for the government to talk of fighting corruption when people in government owe their positions to corruption. Government itself today is a creation of corruption and the people are corrupt as their government.