Kenyans take to the Social Media to blame Jubilee on runaway corruption

"Man is the only real enemy we have. Remove man from the scene and the root causes of hunger and overwork is abolished forever. Man is the only creature that consumes without producing, he does not give milk, he does not lay eggs, he is too weak to pull the plough, he cannot run fast enough to catch rabbits. Yet he’s the lord of all animals. He sets them to work, he gives back to them the bare minimum that will prevent them from starving and the rest he keeps for himself.”

These words by George Orwell clearly summarizes grievances shared by Kenyans on social media platforms on the endless corruption scandals that bedevils the Jubilee administration.

Surprising, hardly a day passes by without the media citing a corruption scandal involving government officials. It wasn’t surprising in 2016 when President Uhuru Kenyatta declared the vice a national disaster.

Since independence, consecutive regimes have hinged on the belief of “it is our turn to eat”- where public officials deliberately ‘steal’ to enrich themselves.

The magnitude of the effect of corruption on the country’s economy and to the ordinary citizens life is massive and growing.

This regime is notorious for scandals based on unlawful or inflated expenditures and funds that cannot be accounted for. Since 2013, Kenya has lost billions of shillings to corruption yet no one has been apprehended for any of the cases that cost the country millions of dollars.

Kenyans have taken to the social media to share their grievances to condemn looting by public officials under the Jubilees administration watch.

Corruption is deeply rooted that it has led to Kenyans voicing their concern against President Kenyatta. They believe that corruption has contributed towards creating an environment that hampers the growth of businesses as well as hindering the government’s ability to effectively offer services to its citizens.

Renown blogger and lecturer Dr Wandia Njoya took to Facebook stating that, “no we don’t get the leaders we deserve, we get the leaders you force on us with your supposed tyranny of numbers. People vote for proven failures then they expect everyone to take responsibility for it.”

David Muthegi in a twitter posting, cautioned Kenyans that choices have consequences. “We elected them and now we are crying …we are not victims. We are accomplices.”

His comments were echoed by Drew Emmanuel who alleges that the Jubilee administration is “…conspiring to kill a generation of young people barely out of college with this corruption business yet after this #TanoTERROR, you all will still go to the ballot to vote for ‘mtu wetu’ – meaning one of our own.”

Kenyans have always stood up against graft, holding demonstrations and challenging the leaders via social media platforms and clamoring for change but nothing has happened.

Recently, in a televised interview, veteran anti-corruption activist John Githongo warned that corruption in Kenya is sliding out of control branding it “Kenya’s social cancer.”

In 2016, President Kenyatta presented a corruption dossier from the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Authority (EACC) to parliament. The dossier confirmed what Kenyans have always feared – that the country is being robbed blind by those in charge of public money.

The dossier laid bare corruption within the five and a half-years-old Jubilee administration, from the grand multi-billion-shilling scams to the petty scandals such as fueling of private vehicles with public money.

The dossier accused top government officials including Cabinet Secretaries, permanent secretaries, governors and heads of parastatals of pocketing billions of shillings through dubious means as millions of Kenyans languish in poverty.

Since assuming office, President Kenyatta has spoken of his commitment to fighting corruption and he is the most outspoken head of state the country has had when it comes to matters corruption.

However, never-ending scandals involving his administration are undermining his efforts and making his talk look cheap with no associated action plan and commitment. In 2014, the President requested a number of ministers involved in on-going corruption scandals to step down and later on fired them on suspicion of graft but none has been prosecuted to date.

The scams that have bedeviled this administration in its five-and-a-half-year existence include: The Ksh 9 billion National Youth Service (NYS) scandal 2 and the Ksh 800 million NYS scandal 1.

Investigations into the latter scandal, revealed that the NYS lost approximately Ksh 800 million through irregular transfers from its bank accounts after an official discovered that his name was being used to validate fraudulent payments.

The third scandal is the Eurobond scam where the country sold $2.75 billion in bonds in 2014, and questions have been raised on how $1.4 billion was spent. The contradictory statements issued by the Treasury and the Central bank of Kenya (CBK) raised doubt and concern on the management of funds by the government.

The third and biggest area of corruption in Kenya is on procurement. According to the EACC, 70 percent of graft in the country is in the area of procurement. Public officials are said to often collude with entrepreneurs who bid for government tenders, who upon winning bids give the officials a fraction of the money they make.

Government contracts are a lucrative business option in the country and have been described as “unpacking a bundle of entrepreneurs either supplying goods or services at inflated prices or cashing in on fictitious tender supplies and purchases.” The ‘tenderpreneurs’ as they are referred to in the social media circles, are mainly associated with politicians and government officials who help them win dubious contracts.

According to opinions of Kenyans on twitter, the Jubilee government has faced a long list of scandals throughout the years thus effectively diminishing public faith in the administration.

Ory Okolloh Mwangi took to twitter to demonize the runaway corruption, he says that, “It is clear that NYS is not a ‘scandal’ but a finely tuned organized crime syndicate. Now we can understand why this government ‘loses’ KSh 600 billion every year.”

The Muthoka@Muthoka Tito in reference to the current NYS scandal, mentioned that NYS has been hit by a new Sh9 billion scandal. “The money was siphoned from the institution in the last three years in a well-orchestrated scheme involving senior government officials and ghost suppliers.”

Transparency International (TI) ranked Kenya 143 out of 180 countries in its 2017 Corruption perceptions index, with a score of 28 out of 100. This score indicates serious levels of public sector corruption.

In its 2016 rankings, the TI places Kenya at position 146 out of 176 countries in the corruption perception index with a score of 26 out of 100.