The Building Bridges Initiative identified corruption, lack of national ethos, shared prosperity and devolution as some of the issues that need to be comprehensively addressed, for Kenya to break with past. Pervasive and endemic corruption is not due to lack of laws, institutions or international cooperation. It is domestic gross deficit of committed political resolve and ineffective law enforcement. Political rhetoric has no corresponding political action.
The true social cost of corruption cannot be measured by amount of bribes but by loss of output due to misallocation of resources, distortions of incentives and other inefficiencies. In addition to these output losses, corruption inflicts additional welfare costs in form of adverse effects on distribution of income and disregard for environmental protection. Persistent corrupt practices are scourge to commerce and good governance. It undermines the rule of law, facilitates other criminal activity, prevents businesses from identifying actual costs, creates an unfair playing field for all competitors and causes the delegitimisation of the state, leading to severe political and economic instability.
Both Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index and the World Bank’s aggregated Control of Corruption Index rank Kenya in the bottom one third of their global comparison. The high levels of corrupt practices in the public sector are the reason Kenya significantly lags behind its own development goals despite its high economic output and well-educated elite.
Income inequalities
Corruption and outright theft of taxes is making the misallocation of resources worse because corrupt officials are hell-bent on opposing change in the regulations from which they get rich.Corruption is aggravating income inequalities and defeating the ‘Leave no one behind’ clarion call. Corruption keeps reducing domestic savings and investment.
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It stimulates capital flight and weakens the domestic banking system. Corruption is one of the most important forces inhibiting investment and growth, thereby lowering living standards.
The inherent corrupt political patronage calculus, criminalized political system, and state capture for individual and family wealth extraction, developed and sustained over long period of time, have been gravely detrimental to war against corruption. Unfortunately this won’t change unless there emerges a seriously dedicated and forward-looking leadership ready to commit political suicide.
Such leadership was demonstrated by Makueni Governor Kivutha Kibwana when he stood up to corrupt Members of County Assembly. He mobilised local communities to push for dissolution of the Makueni County Government in order to protect County’s resources.
This is the courageous leadership backed with effective law enforcement that is needed to hard tackle corruption in public service. Prof Kibwana has emerged as a strong champion of devolution, and Chapter Six of the Constitution on leadership and integrity as core pillars of realizing local economic development in his County.
The anchor
The message Kibwana is delivering is simple: Enhance devolution implementation as set out in the Constitution and devise new model of driving economic freedom with devolution as the anchor. Seeking development from Nairobi is dead mantra. However, to succeed in achieving the vision of devolution and economic freedom, the country must enforce Chapter Six of the Constitution on ethics and integrity in public service.
This tripartite of Chapter Six, devolution and economic freedom is the bedrock of the new frontier of agitation for people of Kenya. This is the agenda for better, equal and just Kenya. It is the path to a democratic, transformative and people centered governance and equal economic system.
Given the significant changes occurring in the global context, Kenya needs to drive radical reforms, change processes and inclusive political economic development from middle and below.
Corruption in public service is first and foremost a moral, ethical and integrity problem. Kenyans responded to it with Chapter Six. They opted for a path going to the root cause and taking a more proactive approach in advocating policies and developing institutions and administrative systems that eliminate opportunities for corrupt practices and fraud in the management of public resources.
Ineffectual handling of corrupt practices and theft of public resources must be addressed through escalating efforts to improve integrity in the public sector that are often undermined by the impunity. Existing supervisory and control mechanisms are not being applied adequately and the gradual devolution of competencies to county level is simply devolving the problem of corrupt practices.
A government that has endemic corruption at the highest levels lacks moral authority to act against those who are corrupt at the lower levels. Kibwana has shown that fruits of devolution, efficient delivery of public services and economic opportunities are a reality if there is political resolve and determination to enforce Chapter Six on ethical leadership and integrity.
Mr Wainaina is Executive Director, International Center for Policy and Conflict @NdunguWainaina
