The chances that lifestyle audits can end corruption are very high, but this will largely depend on the manner in which they are conducted. Let us start from the premise that Kenyans have reached a point where most do not trust the Government. They have heard the refrain on ending corruption for as long as Kenya has been independent.
Because of this, many scoffed when President Uhuru Kenyatta said he and his deputy would subject themselves to lifestyle audits. No Kenyan is gullible enough to believe that people who owe their jobs to either the President or his deputy would jeopardise those jobs by writing negative reports about them.
Such reports would be written by servile committees and ordinary Kenyans won’t have the wherewithal to ascertain their veracity. In fact, such scepticism was captured in a social media post by a renowned lawyer who suggested names of individuals who have been rabidly anti-Jubilee to oversee the audits to ensure that there was no monkey play at hand if it ever comes to carrying out the suggested audits.
Indeed, to show his seriousness, those are the very individuals who will give his legacy and war on corruption a clean bill of health, for if they say anything is okay, the doubting Thomases will be convinced.
What is lacking in Kenya is political goodwill to fight corruption. With the institutions at hand, it requires just a little genuineness in the fight to stem corruption. Our buddies in China have done it, why not us?
READ MORE
EACC to seize assets worth Sh90m from former Machakos CEC
Tackle corruption and you will have enough to pay workers well
Uhuru Kenyatta: I hold no grudges and ill will against anybody
EACC questions eight Bomet officials in Sh1.5b embezzlement probe
Mr Rapando is a businessman in Kitale town
