Why corruption is a millstone around our necks

Members of the civil society demonstrate in Nairobi over the rise of corruption cases in Kenya, they have called on the president to jail all the individuals involved in NYS and maize scandal in Kenya on 31/5/18. [Beverlyne Musili, Standard]

It was Mwai Kibaki, Kenya’s third President who said in his inaugural speech that “corruption will now cease to be a way of life in Kenya.” That was in 2002 after Kanu lost power and Kenya was voted as most optimistic country in the world.

I missed that opportunity to celebrate with my fellow countrymen the rebirth of a nation. I keenly followed the celebration from America’s Deep South and can still sing “I am unbwogable.”

Returning to Kenya in 2007, just before the infamous post-election violence (PEV), I found a vastly changed country, growing fast, confident of herself. The interest rates were down without any cap. We had even formulated a national strategic plan, Vision 2030. God rest Wahome Gakuru’s soul in peace.  

I witnessed PEV but the country quickly recovered from it, through a coalition government and a new constitution whose promulgation I witnessed. We dubbed it one of the best in the world despite heavy borrowing from America.  

Popular currency

Fast forward to 2018. The most popular currency now is corruption, or rent seeking as economists prefer to call it diplomatically. No country in the world is corruption free, but we have elevated it to the level of a goddess. It is the millstone around our leaders. Moi left the legacy of Goldenberg, Kibaki had his Anglo-Leasing. Uhuru has his list. It seems corruption scandals are a rite of passage for our leaders.

My greatest worry is not that our leaders are perceived to be corrupt, but sucking in the youth, the next generation. This will ensure that corruption has able inheritors and will surely become our way of life. Corruption has now entered its romantic age, an object of admiration and a route to fame.

In the past, graft was the reserve of old men, rarely women, particularly young and beautiful. Now every gender and age is in it. The face of Kenya seems well represented. Apparently, from the highest level to the lowest level, corruption seems very resilient, resisting any attempt to uproot it.

How did we get there? Can we extricate ourselves? Can we avoid being moralistic and offer a solution? How can corruption thrive when we have more educated men and women than in the past? When we have more churches than in the past? When information is now more available?

One, corruption seems to rhyme well with our traditions. In fact, it is not called corruption; it is “helping”. When you hire wrong people, steal money for your family, you are not really corrupt, you are helping others. Was raiding other communities for cattle and at times women not a way of life?

Two, there was no real transition from traditional thinking into modernity despite independence. We loved the good life of mzungu but never internalised how he made money to enjoy his good life, from taking wine or beer to riding horses or flying planes. When freedom came, we wanted the good life, but not the work that goes with it. 

That thinking has been passed over to the next generation, the youth. No wonder the other popular word today is “sponsorship”, a variant of “blessing” in South Africa. It means a good life without commensurate work. We also welcomed capitalism without a human face with open arms. It is about me and myself, God for all of us.

Three, our schooling has contributed to a corrupt mindset. Tuition makes students believe they do not need to work, the teachers can teach them till they pass! After all, they have paid the fees. Once out of school, they take the mentality that work is evil and has to be avoided, but not the good life. Movies, TV, peers and observation easily make us discern good life, from houses, cars, holidays, restaurants and less talked about sexual relationships.  

In our universities, we spend lots of time studying how to use money, not generate it. All the functional departments come into being after the entrepreneurs start the business. Ever heard top KCPE or KCSE students say they want to be entrepreneurs?

Four, add the fact that Kenya is becoming a “hollow nation,” without values.  Religion and our traditions that served as a bulwark against hollowness have been relegated to the back burner. Religion is seen as a pastime. What happened to taboos that kept us straight?  Now everything goes.

We live in the age of moral relativism. Elders used to punish men who impregnated girls. Who cares today? Thieves were rolled in beehives or burnt. Who cares?  Without sanctions, we test the socio-political and judicial systems to the limits. Non-financial corruption can be as bad, from outright lying to sexual exploitation of the young and vulnerable. 

Five, insecurity drives lots of Kenyans into corruption. It should not surprise you that it is often the senior people in the public sector who are implicated in graft. They have tasted a good life and would loathe losing it.  They “hedge” by acquiring wealth that will ensure once they leave the public service, they will be secure, with a steady source of income to live in a good suburb, drive a car and enjoy all the trappings of the good life. Would assuring public sector workers of a good pension reduce their propensity to be corrupt? No, unless we end “hollowness.”

Protect wealth

Six, closely related to insecurity is the need to protect your wealth. If you get your wealth corruptly, you need to protect it. Corruption can be a good smoke screen; more like a thief caught stealing then throwing money to the public, who are left fighting for the money as he escapes. This perhaps explains why we do not have a critical number of angry men and women over corruption.   

Seven, is it possible that the wrong people end up in public offices, including elected leaders? How do we select top officials in the public sector? Do we suffer from adverse selection, where those who can talk best, are best connected and mesmerise the panel to get the post?  Recall the promises made by elected leaders to get your votes. How comes the private sector does not have many cases of corruption? How effective is the certificate of good conduct in selecting public officials? How effective is the criteria in Chapter 6 of the 2010 constitution?  

Suppose recruiting of public sector workers is outsourced.  Why can’t the governments, national and county, be as rigorous in recruiting employees as they are with national exams? Closely associated with wrong people is that lots of public sectors workers beyond teachers and nurses are idle, with ample time to plot how to steal public money. What would be the optimal number of public sector employees? Where do ghost workers come from? What do they do? What of the underemployed?

Eight, civic education is not prioritised; how the Government gets its money and how it should be used. We see tax as free money, ‘mali ya umma’. The fact that nothing has stopped working in the Government because of corruption has made many believe that it has limitless amount of money. Add self-justification: “Others stole and nothing happened to them. Why can’t I?”

Nine, there is no better source of income than the money collected as tax and pooled. There is no oil - may be in future - most of the plots and land have been dished out. The only remaining bright spot is public money, easy to siphon, electronically. Add the competition driven by population growth, tribalism, joblessness and politics. Corruption can be a full-time job.

Ten, others suggest that the ‘nusu mkate’ government made corruption easier; we got a critical number of people who know how the Government operates. You are more likely to steal from a home you are familiar with.

Eleven, there are no incentives for those who keep straight and defend the public funds. For example, do we have anyone who did something to forestall the theft of funds in NYS? What are his or her rewards? Did you see a Malian rewarded with a French citizenship for saving a child dangling on a balcony the other day?

Twelve, some argue that the new constitution dispersed power so much that no one has enough of it to act decisively on serious issues like corruption. Too many people now have their hands on public tills.  No wonder everyone talks of a benevolent dictator.

Thirteen, it has been argued that corruption is a logical stage in economic growth, before everyone realises that we shall go nowhere unless we stop it. Recall the American robber barons?

Conspiracy theorists

Fourteen, conspiracy theorists are at work. They argue sometimes to the point of conviction that one way to change this country is to annoy the youth enough. And what a better way than focusing on any project that might uplift them like NYS, started by the late Geoffrey Griffin, the founder of Starehe Boys Centre, also in trouble. The possible backlash of angry youth is what made Jubilee pour so much money into NYS in the first place. 

Others argue that highlighting corruption is one way to make Jubilee’s victory pyrrhic and make Kenyans yearn for change in 2022. Yet, in the run-up to polls last year, politicians successfully made corruption a non-issue.

Will the risk to Uhuru’s legacy make him act decisively but within constitutional limits? Will dealing decisively with corruption be the legacy of the handshake? We can only watch and hold our breath.

- The writer teaches at the University of Nairobi.  

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