Auction of Obado's graft proceeds should serve as warning to the corrupt

Migori Governor Okoth Obado at the Milimani law courts in Nairobi. [File, Standard]

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) is in the process of disposing of the proceeds of corruption recovered from former Migori County Governor Okoth Obado and his associates. 

In 2018, Obado and his accomplices were charged and arraigned for their part in fictitious procurement deals that robbed the taxpayers of Sh1.9 billion. Obado was the first Governor of Migori, and apparently, took advantage of devolution, a loose leadership structure that had no precedent at the time, to feather his nest, but failed to reckon that the law, as slow as it is reputed to be, would one day catch up with him.

With overwhelming evidence stacked against him, Obado realised the futility of sticking out his neck in a case that would likely be drawn out and opted to strike a deal with EACC to auction his property in Nairobi, Kisumu and Migori. 

Cumulatively, Obado’s corruptly acquired property worth Sh235.6 million that is up for public sale in an exercise that started on Monday this week. These includes residential and commercial houses in Nairobi and Migori as well as a parcel of land and two Toyota Land Cruisers, according to EACC.

Proceeds from the sale of these properties will be deposited in the consolidated fund at the National Treasury, which is the custodian of recovered public property. 

This is a positive step in the fight against corruption and hopefully will serve as a good deterrent to those who might want use their positions of power and authority to steal public property. 

Such leaders betray the trust that the public had in them at the ballot, and provisions of Chapter 6 of the Constitution on integrity and honour to the offices they hold. EACC, though, still has a lot to do. If successive reports from the Auditor General are anything to go by, the level of sleaze and wastage within the counties is shocking. 

Clearly, it appears as if corruption was devolved alongside administrative functions. All county officials have, due to their corrupt ways, denied counties money for development must be rounded up and charged. EACC still has a long way to go in recovering all the stolen money despite having recovered Sh28 billion in the last five years. It is still working on 400 corruption cases worth over Sh50 billion.

This is not little money. If prudently used, it can go a long way in alleviating some of the financial handicaps that have resulted in the Treasury reducing the education sector budget and reintroducing levies that will end up burdening parents more.

Corruption must be discouraged and made expensive for public officers, State officers and Kenyans in general who habitually steal from the public. They must be made aware that they are responsible for the shortage of drugs and deaths in public hospitals, the financial strain in the education sector and many other problems bedeviling this country. They should be advised to emulate greedy Obado and the biblical Zacchaeus and return to the taxpayer whatever they have stolen. Or be made to face the full wrath of the law.