Jubilee leaders have nothing to hide in graft war

There is no denying that corruption is currently one of the biggest threats facing our nation. However, as rampant as the scourge is, there have been attempts to exaggerate its magnitude while discounting government efforts to battle it.

Something that Jubilee ought to be credited for is the bold step it took to concede that corruption has permeated every space of our society. President Uhuru Kenyatta has made the unprecedented move of acknowledging in public the severity of graft. He deserves to be praised not vilified for such honesty. Which other President would make such a confession? The mere fact the government has admitted that the vice is pervasive has sent a cold shiver down the spines of corruption architects. More fundamentally, by going public on the gravity of the menace, the President has brought it squarely to the limelight and the nation is now deeply reflecting on how we got into this deep, dark hole. The current debate on graft is therefore healthy and must be sustained until we find a remedy.

As we rigorously engage in this discourse, we must all, however, be driven by patriotism and the desire to safeguard public resources from looters. There is no room for narrow-minded posturing and scoring of political goals if we are to win this war.

Unfortunately, the well-meaning admission by the President has been misconstrued in some quarters to mean Jubilee has accepted that it is unable to deal with the situation. Nothing can be further from the truth. To effectively deal with a problem, we must first accept its existence. If the government had no will to fight the menace, it would have stuck to the well-trodden path of denial that characterised past regimes. Jubilee has been open about corruption because it has nothing to hide.

In the past leaders buried their heads in the sand and strenuously denied that corruption ever existed only for it to rear its ugliest of heads in form Kenren, Goldenberg, Triton and Anglo Leasing. In sharp contrast, the Jubilee government has come out openly and made deliberate steps to ensure its top officials are nor purveyors of this malignant cancer that graft has become.

Wanton theft and misappropriation of public funds have been our undoing since independence as it has acutely curtailed our match to a prosperous nation. Corrupt cartels have been building deep and elaborate networks and honing their robbing skills for decades. Needless to say, were it not for these looters Kenya would have made significant strides in development.

We in Jubilee are putting the best foot forward in stemming this malady. I have been on record saying corruption should be declared a national crisis. The President on his part has declared it a national security threat. This points to the gravity with which the government is attaching to the battle against this dragon that literally sucks the blood of Kenyans. The government has identified that procurement departments in various ministries is where the heart of corruption beats loudest. The objective of the perpetrators of the crime is to control the tendering of government services and goods. And they have largely succeeded because they work in cahoots with their patrons high up in the hierarchy of government who work to conceal their tracks.

The government has declared a full-blown war against these merchants of impunity and I can say without batting an eyelid that their days are numbered.

Jubilee government neither goes to bed nor mollycoddle corrupt elements. If you want evidence on how the government is serious in tackling the vice, look at the purge on the Cabinet. Five Cabinet secretaries have lost their jobs. This certainly counts for something.

The government may not have moved fast enough in dealing with corruption claims but this is only because we insist that the fight must be prosecuted within the law. The Opposition always seems ready to resort to mob justice which goes against the rules of natural justice. You cannot enforce the law by breaking it. It must also be stated that corruption has alarmingly morphed into a culture. Apparently, it has become obnoxiously normal to receive and give bribe for a service. Such is the low our society has sunk in the pit of moral decadence. At this level, exorcising it requires much more than government action. It calls for a seismic shift in attitudes, ethics and values among Kenyans.

This problem will never end however elaborate the laws is if there will always be people scheming to beat the system and rob the public of their resources. This is not to play down the centrality of the law in fighting corruption and the significance of institutions and government’s action, but what is needed is a multi-pronged approach because the vice is as hydra-headed as you can get.

As an ethically-conscious society, we need to question how someone who was struggling to make ends meet suddenly swims in wealth a few years since he landed a government appointment. All of us must join the crusade against corruption.