Why defined budget is key in the war against graft

Fighting corruption requires a multi-agency approach and resources. The bad news is that the budget read last week by CS Treasury was not specific on the money allocated to fight the vice.

Yet graft destroys business and renders many jobless. Money should have been put aside for chiefs at village level to rally citizens against the vice.

At the same time, the leadership must start reflecting on their actions and outcomes.

The citizens must own the fight against the vice because it is them who bribe and elect the leadership. It is not  surprising that the United Nations Convention Against Corruption defined the vice as the abuse of public office for private gains.

Those numbers in the budget might not mean much unless corporate governance in public sector is enhanced -  starting from the village level.

The good news is that State House is viciously fighting the vice while the courts have denied bail to graft suspects.

We could not celebrate more. We are at a stage where we breathe corruption and it chokes us. The vice is decaying our moral values. Graft breeds individuals who undermine the interest of the society. The crime tickles the corrupt to ill-gotten wealth.

Some argue that corruption is not visible; but poor infrastructure, specifically bad roads, power black outs, hospitals without drugs and diagnostic facilities; high level crimes are indicators of the vice.

Human intelligence

The conversation about graft must continue until this dragon is slayed.

We must support the President because his actions symbolise ‘innovative human intelligence acting as a prime motive force for social management’ and good intention to improve our lives.

The problem with graft is that the few who can bribe get everything while the majority suffer. Our motto should be “Good governance is clean but corruption is dirty.”

Even the corrupt hate dirt for they are always surrounded by gold; however, their gold does rust away. This war against corruption is not meant for the Chichi Dodos found in ‘The Beautiful Ones Are Not Yet Born’ novel by Ghanaian writer Ayi Kwei Armah, which I consider the ‘Magna Carta’ of African Literature, as Edwin Okon tells us.

“The ChiChi Dodo - a mythical Ghanaian bird claims to be clean and hates filth. The bird goes through all the pains to keep filth out of its way.

The irony is that despite its hygienic standards, the ChiChi Dodo feeds on maggots found in animal waste. The bird feeds on the filth it detests.”

There might be people pretending to be supporting Uhuru, but they are the ChiChi Dodos.

The main man in this book works at a railway station and is approached with a bribe; when he refuses, his wife fumes and he can’t help feeling guilty despite his innocence.

However, it is the setting that must be noted. ‘The action takes place between 1965’s Passion Week and 25 February 1966, the day after the overthrow of Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first president,’ and corruption fights back.

In the fight against graft, the book should be a must read in secondary schools.

The question normally asked is: What is the economic impact of corruption? The corrupt in the developing countries stash away millions of shillings meant for local development. Those who are corrupt happen to be those in authority, those in government.

Lifestyle audit

This explains why Kenyans must support the Head of State for suggesting a lifestyle audit of top bureaucrats.

It appears the President has realised that the massive cost of corruption is destroying Kenya and has single-handedly decided to destroy the vice.

He vowed to have the corrupt rot in jail. In countries where corruption has been destroyed such as Ghana and Gambia, the fight against the ‘cancer’ started at State House.

The worst form of corruption is bribery of public officials to take actions that render the citizens poorer. One reason why our taxation gets higher is that corruption has a share in almost each tax shilling.

Not paying tax is itself corruption. Graft has made us lose investment and trade. It discourages honest firms from investing in Kenya.

One only needs to look at Transparency International’s corruption perception index to conclude that the vice is associated with failed States.

As a country, we should not go that direction. The President is pushing this fight beyond moral stance of corruption.

Graft propels injustices that lead to political strife and undermine economic growth.

-The writer teaches at the University of Nairobi