It’s time for UhuRuto to slay the dragons of graft, tribalism

The recent Sh52 million bank heist in Thika spoke volumes about our society. The theft was unique in more than one way. First, the alleged suspects are reported to be brilliant university graduates who scored straight As at Nyeri High School. In other words, these were not ordinary school dropouts with no other options but to follow the path of crime. Second, the theft was a carefully planned, yet a very laborious exercise of digging a thirty metre underground tunnel over a period of six months. This speaks of a people not only committed to hard work, but were resilient enough to follow it through to good success.

They were not lazy layabouts who wait to hold up a bank while hiding behind the power of the barrel of a gun. No, these were a people ready to carefully lay out a plan and then work hard at executing it – a not very common characteristic of today’s youth. The question therefore begs: Why would such brilliant, hard-working individuals turn to crime?

The father of two of the suspects seemed to have a ready answer. According to Titus Githui, the alleged actions of his children were merely a reflection of a society that has lost its values. According to Githui, ours is a nation where corruption and impunity have become normal and acceptable.

As reported by a section of the media, Githui cited the mega scandals in the National Youth Service and the Health ministry that have never been resolved, yet the perpetrators are well known. He therefore wondered why young people can remain on the straight and narrow path when government officials get away with blatant theft. In his view therefore, his pain as a parent is that, after spending time in bringing up morally upright children, they may have been corrupted by society.

For a fact, Githui’s perspective on this crime, allegedly committed by his children, is extremely sad but true. It is an analysis of a brilliant mind that has observed our nation well. It perfectly corroborates the Kenya Youth Survey Report 2016, conducted by the East Africa Institute, which found that, up to 50 per cent of youth had no problem getting rich through tax evasion and corruption as long as they were not caught.

According to the report, their views were “inspired” by the fact that most rich people are those who have engaged in corruption and outright theft of national resources. Such people, though sometimes well known, are never brought to book or to account. Instead, the system seems to only pursue and punish the petty thieves.

When President Uhuru took office five years ago, I expressed in this space my personal belief that he was the man of the hour, well placed to pull us out of the quagmire that we were in as a nation. It was my conviction that, unlike many of our leaders, President Kenyatta had not ascended into leadership to establish an economic empire.

That he already had. Nor did I think that he had set out to build a name for himself. That too he already had. But most importantly, he did not appear to me as one who was driven by an inordinate desire for recognition or hero worship. Furthermore, it was my evaluation that as a younger person, he enjoyed a broader and more progressive worldview that would free him from the clutches of the past. It was therefore my considered view, which I verily declared, that Kenyatta was the most strategic leader Kenya had ever had, not for building rail and road, but for tackling the twin ailments of corruption and negative ethnicity.

Put into perspective therefore, Githui’s analysis points to a serious lapse in dealing with the matter of corruption.

Githui’s is a definite indictment on our society in general and government in particular. To be sure, a society that celebrates thieves and tolerates evil is a society that has lost its moral foundation. Likewise, a government that is pussyfooted in dealing with corruption is a government inadvertently committed to destroying the future of its people.

Such a society can only produce brilliant thieves who either deep their fingers into national coffers, or carefully and systematically dig tunnels into bank vaults. We can ill afford to lay our national foundation on such a moral mire.

Therefore, as I prayed then, I pray again for the President and his deputy: May God grant you the courage of David to confront and slay the twin giants of corruption and tribalism that have dominated our land for so long. For a fact, you have no greater duty.

-The writer is the Presiding Bishop at CITAM.

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