Graft thrives because we refuse to have honest debate about it

Nothing illustrates the dishonesty of our corruption discourse more than the loss of momentum on the graft debate after Jubilee, having faced a non-ending onslaught of corruption allegations from CORD, turned the tables and declared the opposition also culpable, with examples of “CORD counties” that were graft-prone and its luminaries that had fairly healthy corruption CVs.

The national debate on corruption has since ebbed awaiting a more convenient political opportunity. This dishonesty makes an all out assault on corruption difficult; the space between reality and falsity, just like the space between villains and those fighting corruption is blurred. The dishonesty in the corruption debate is weaved through many false narratives. One falsity, traditionally popular with those in government, argues that it is wrong to accuse government of corruption.