“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” This quote is attributed to the longest serving First Lady of the United States of America, Eleanor Roosevelt. Mrs. Roosevelt was the wife of the 32nd president of the United States Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Mrs Roosevelt’s quote can be predicated on two presuppositions. One is that the future we desire must be planned in the present time and space. Two, people who lack dreams, lack a future. No wonder then that the holy Bible puts emphasis on the centrality of vision and dreams.
The quote by Eleanor is enlivened in the wake of President William Ruto’s dream of turning Kenya into an African Singapore. Dr Ruto envisions an economically empowered country that provides opportunities and standard services for all citizens.
As the President, Ruto is justified to unravel dreams about Kenya’s future. However, for dreams to be fulfilled, there must be coordinated efforts in terms of planning, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating the progress.
Under the current social-political and economic conditions, Kenya is ill-prepared, ill-equipped, and ill-governed to achieve the desperately needed Singapore status within the duration Ruto is projecting. Corruption is one of the biggest conditions that impedes Kenya’s economic take-off.
It is against that backdrop that anti-corruption reforms must be implemented expeditiously by Ruto’s administration as a foundation upon which the process of turning Kenya into an African Singapore can be established. Because of corruption, resources are either misappropriated or stolen altogether.
In fact, were it not for corruption, Kenya would have become an African Singapore long ago. After all, it has been said that at independence, Kenya was at par economically with Singapore. Yet, Singaporeans made sacrificial steps to annihilate corruption and move their country from third to first world. Today, Singapore is not only a developed country, but has become a role model to many countries.
To demonstrate the severity of corruption in Kenya, the Washington the International Monetary Fund which monitors the international monetary systems and offers financing to member states-highlighted corruption as Kenya’s biggest impediment to realisation of her full economic potential. In the just released report, IMF assessed Kenya’s institutional governance structures and determined that they are vulnerable and susceptible to corruption. The report concluded that for Kenya to achieve her economic dreams and regain her status as a beneficiary of IMF funding, it must implement credible anti-corruption reforms.
The effects of corruption cannot be gainsaid. According to the Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission, Kenya loses an estimated 608 billion shillings a year which is about 5.3 per cent of Kenya’s GDP. To me, these figures are conservative. The amount could even be higher.
It is not surprising then that in a recent Corruption Perception Index, Kenya ranked miserably at 121 out of 180 countries, capturing depressing levels of corruption and poor governance practices. This underscores the urgent need for Kenya to implement stringent anti-corruption reforms aimed at inculcating prudent utilisation of resources and intensifying accountability measures.
Addressing corruption effectively requires systemic reforms and greater accountability within the public institutions and private sectors.
Mr Ambuka is a human Rights Consultant Based in New Jersey, USA
