New KACC team has its cloth already cut

Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission about to get a new face at the top in the name of Dr PLO Lumumba as Director. And as his predecessor Justice Aaron Ringera often argued, the battle to recover assets, punish perpetrators, get compensation and so on — essentially seek legal remedy — faces major challenges thanks to the workings of the Judiciary. But the result was more success with recoveries that prosecutions.

Ringera bowed out in circumatsnces suggesting ineffectiveness and lacklustre performance. That is why expectations are high on the shoulders of the Lumumba-led outfit.

Kenyans are hoping KACC will now crack a real whip, and not be seen to be a politicians’ lapdog rather than the public watchdog it was meant to be.

Weak political structures have seen hesitation when it comes to sacking and keeping out of public office persons implicated in corruption. Naturally, the average citizen see this as tolerance of the impunity that accompanies high-level graft, seems an abandonment of the pledge to fight high-level corruption. This is not a new problem. Various bodies, including the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, have pointed out the relationship between the will to fight corruption and stability.

The Lumumba tenure must restore objectivity, fairness, demonstrate decisiveness as an investigatory agency and exile the mentality of untouchables and Big Fish.

Despite the chequered experience of the KACC since inception, should the President assent to the new appointments, its work is cut and dried. And the President has no reason not to sign them into office after the vetting.

Mince meat of concerns

KACC has in the past made perpetual complaints of lacking prosecutorial power and has had to rely on police, the goodwill of Parliament and the Judiciary. The combined experience of the Lumumba team should make mince meat of such concerns and open a new chapter in the anti-graft war.

If the war on corruption is to ever be consistent, Kenya needs institutions that with more stable political structures and a one-top-shop solution. It is necessary, therefore, to review the anti-graft strategy to decide whether the several bodies dealing with the monster are necessary.

For instance, what is the work of the National Anti-Corruption Campaign Steering Committee? How does its role differ from those of the Ombudsman, Auditor-General State Corporations, Efficiency Monitoring Unit, Police, tribunals, commissions of inquiry etc? Would it not make sense to amalgamate their dockets under a single roof and command?

Where are the public sensitisation programmes on how the hydra of graft have extended into the family sitting room.

For long, graft has been seen as an amorphous animal affecting the mega-rich since the sums involved are so huge it is difficult for wananchi to fathom. As a result, the public is apathetic to any anti-graft campaign.

But wait a minute.

When looting of public coffers starts targets items like grain so that wananchi find the price of maize way out of reach like in the recent one targeting the Strategic Grain Reserve; or the Triton Oil theft that left commuter grounded for two weeks and disrupted economic activity across the region. What about the Free School Programme funding or even Constituency Fund allocations?

Moral dress

Apart from the thefts being a blot on the moral dress of society, they directly affect the purchasing power of the ordinary family and undermines the ideals of Vision 2030, Millennium Development Goals achievement and is a sheer waste of time and other resources such as police and Judiciary that investigate and ultimately plug the gaps.

We hold our position in support of a stronger KACC that will encourage whistle-blowing through community structures now that legislation is in place to protect potential witnesses since theft of public funds is committed by colleagues, kith and kin.

The public is a rich mine of information and can help point KACC’s attack dogs in the proper direction.