Haji must know political goodwill to fight graft is limited, easily recalled

DPP Noordin Haji could not hold his reaction when he appeared before the Senate Justice and Legal Affairs Committee meeting with Multi-Agency on Corruption at Parliament on August 29, 2018. [Boniface Okendo/Standard]

The war against corruption was never going to be the serving of cheese-cake after a hearty meal. As Justice Aaron Ringera concluded long ago, the dragon of graft would snort and fiercely charge at those trying to kill it. Corruption not only fights back; it also has very many faces and is mired in the crushing weight of political, ethnic and old-boy connections.

The Book of Ecclesiastes accurately captures this, there is a time for everything. As President Kenyatta serves his final term, he can now relax his hold on the rope of political exigency and perceived burden of debt to some of his friends.The biggest challenge for Uhuru, however, would be that if he strikes with the fury of a Spanish matador, he may end up paying the ultimate political price - face isolation and sabotage, or look ungrateful and thankless by allowing the net to close in on his closest backers and friends.