16 years on, Kenyans yearn for leaders who embody integrity

President William Ruto chairs a Cabinet meeting at State House, Nairobi. [PCS]

The framers of the Constitution of Kenya 2010 envisioned that any State officer, elected or appointed, should demonstrate respect, promote public confidence and be accountable to the public.

This has been clearly stipulated in Chapter 6, Leadership and Integrity under Article 73. 16 years down the line, the quality of the leaders churned out of democratic processes, appointments and nominations has been questionable, to say the least.

Across all three arms of Government, the bar has been lowered significantly.

Leadership and governance analyst Prof Gitile Naituli posits that the wrong culture of self-aggrandizement which brings about self-interest over national interest, has been embedded deep in the fabric of the society. He says that in 2013 is when the ball was dropped.

''The Presidency of Uhuru Kenyatta started violating the provisions. Right now that trend is continuing in an accelerated manner." he said.

According to governance analyst Javas Bigambo, Kenya lost its way during the legislation of the Leadership and Integrity Act in 2012."The Act was properly watered down that it lost its meaning as intended by the framers of the Constitution," said Bigambo.

An analysis across all arms shows that the country has fallen way below the standards set in Katiba 2010.

In the Executive, Article 73(2) clearly states that any selection should be on the basis of personal integrity, competence and suitability.

In total contrast to this provision, successive cabinet appointments have been questionable. In President William Ruto's first Cabinet, the list forwarded to Parliament had individuals who were facing murder and graft charges.

They claimed that some of the cases were political witch hunts and some had their cases dropped by the Director of Public Prosecutions DPP. That notwithstanding the suitability of the appointees for their dockets was a big debate.

Gen Zs went on the streets in 2024 and among their demands was that the entire Cabinet had to go.

They demanded that individuals with zero corruption allegations and integrity questions be appointed.

The President sacked the entire Cabinet except Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi, due to public pressure. After reconstituting his cabinet, some individuals in the sacked cabinet were brought back.

In the current cabinet, Cooperatives CS Wycliffe Oparanya is under investigation by the EACC for corruption allegations during his tenure as Kakamega county Governor while Lands CS Alice Wahome was recently summoned by the Senate committee over alleged interference in the ownership of a Sh10 billion land.

The opulence portrayed by some cabinet members has also been a point of major dissatisfaction from the public.

The conduct of the President has also been under intense scrutiny. Accountability for his decisions to the public as outlined in Chapter 6 has not been up to par. Among the issues that have irked the public is his frequent & expensive foreign travels.

In May this year, he was in the spotlight for chartering a jet that would reportedly cost the public half a billion for just one week paid by public coffers, for his European tour.

State House spending has also been in the limelight due to the huge delegations that have trooped there since he got into office with reports of them leaving with cash handouts ranging around 10 thousand shillings.

During the first Presidency under the new Constitution President Uhuru was blamed for gross disobedience to court orders.

While other Parliaments have had their fair share of tribulations, the 13th Parliament has set a new low.

From allegations of bribery from the President, former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua and even Governors, both the National Assembly have violated Article 75 which demands State officers to avoid demeaning the office they hold.

Bribery aside, the public passed a vote of no confidence on the legislators after they passed the controversial 2024 Finance Bill which brought the invasion of Parliament on the 25th of June that year.

In this Parliament Kimilili MP Didmus Barasa has faced charges for allegedly killing one Brian Olunga on election day but he was acquitted in 2023.

Sirisia MP John Waluke was convicted of corruption in 2022 before it was overturned in 2024.

The academic qualifications for state officers has also been a major talking point. Justice Anthony Mrima ruled in September 2022 that the requirement for Governors to hold a degree was unconstitutional, in what was interpreted as a big blow to the caliber of leaders put in very high public offices.

Fake certificate scandals have also marred state officials. Former Wajir County Governor Mohamed Abdi, made history as the first county boss to have had his election nullified by a court due to a fake master's degree.

Former Kiambu Governor had a long battle in court defending himself from allegations of fraudulently acquiring a degree from Punjab University in India.

Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja also found himself in a tight spot to defend his degree from Uganda's Team University in 2022.

In the run-up to the last General Election, the then CS in charge of Interior Fred Matiang'i, warned that Kenyans could elect at least 40% money launderers into office.

"If we are not very careful as a country, we are going to launder into elective positions, drug dealers and criminals of unprecedented standards. In some cases, the people we are profiling are the leading candidates." he said.

The Judiciary has also witnessed questions surrounding the integrity of its judges. On Wednesday 22nd July, the Law Society of Kenya began a nationwide boycott of several Judges including all Supreme court judges except Justice Mohamed Warsame, over corruption and judicial misconduct charges.

In 2023 Justice Juma Chitembwe was removed from the office of the Judge of the High Court for gross misconduct and graft.

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission EACC, was a creation of this chapter, mandated to ensure compliance of the provisions of this chapter.

While they have made efforts in collaboration with the Asset Recovery Agency in recovering some public property and graft proceeds, analysts opine that much ground remains uncovered.

"If you look at the scale of graft vis-a-vis the amount of recovery done, there's much to be done," Bigambo said.

Naituli adds that the appointment of State loyalists to head accountability institutions has also dented the war on graft. Bigambo, however, says that because EACC dominantly focuses on fighting corruption, issues of integrity should not be limited to fighting of corruption

The public has also been mentioned to shoulder some of the blame. Bigambo cited that cases of people claiming reimbursement from politicians, to stealing of National exams, show that wanachi are also guilty themselves.

"Kenyans expect leadership and integrity, yet they themselves do not have sufficient integrity," he said.

"One of the responsibilities of a good citizen is to hold leaders to account, especially during elections but there's also a recall clause in the Constitution which the public has not deployed as an accountability mechanism," Naituli said.

To get us back on track, Naituli insists that there's a need to restore constitutionalism in governance and revolution in the thinking and culture of Kenyans to become slaves of the law.

“We have to get a clean slate from non-adherence to the rule of law. The rule of law must be our guiding principle going forward,” he said.