Opinion: Anti-graft agency failed to raise integrity bar in aspirants' vetting

Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission CEO Ezra Chiloba and chairman Wafula Chebukati  photo:courtesy

Last week was an anti-climax of sorts. Kenyans who had expected radical surgery in the political landscape were heartbroken after the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) cleared aspirants, among them many of questionable character and integrity, for the August elections.

All indications are that politicians who have featured in various reports detailing their role in abuse of office and plunder will participate in the August elections.

Many of them have high chances of getting elected largely because a bigger part of the Kenyan electorate glorifies such individuals. All along, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) had made Kenyans believe that it would help raise the bar.

But, alas, it looks like that won't happen soon. After IEBC had cleared several aspirants who, seemingly, had gotten clearance from relevant institutions, among them EACC, the latter has produced a new list of individuals it claims are facing integrity issues hence should not be allowed to contest.

The mandatory vetting of aspirants was meant to separate the wheat from the chaff. After the 11th Parliament had watered down Chapter Six of the constitution, the citizenry deserved institutions that can stand up for them.

The IEBC and the EACC had looked likely to fill the void. Not so. The vetting would have reinforced, not undermined, Parliament's oversight role. The logic being that a tainted MP could not sit in parliament. However, it was foolhardy to imagine that a certificate of good conduct is a perfect deterrent for those who want to abuse office and steal from the public.

If institutions like EACC on which the hopes of many rode, believing it could help drain our political swamp of the sharks of corruptions flinch from applying Chapter Six of the constitution, then Kenya will be worse off because of it. It is saddening that the common denominator defining our political class is scandals. That should not be the case. The long journey to getting a new constitution will not have been worthwhile if the effects of the constitution cannot be felt.