NHC saga confirms the depth of graft taproot

A Man’s Home Is His Castle, is an English dictum that has held true through the ages and societies. However humble, however grand, makeshift, decrepit or tawdry and bare, that is where the person feels safest and can hold ground.But then again, shelter is one of man’s greatest desires as expressed in Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, the psychology theory Maslow identified in his 1943 paper, A Theory of Human Motivation. Modern Man has not lost this ingrained desire to own a home as building firms and governments continue the quest to provide affordable, decent, sturdy, low-cost housing to cater for its seven billion-plus souls.Banks the world over are realising this is a growth industry and are scrambling for a piece of the home ownership pie by dangling low interest-rate mortgages to the increasing appetite.Governments, Kenya included, have weighed in through schemes such as the slum upgrading programmes and through subsidised home ownership schemes such as the National Housing Corporation (NHC).The cost of rentals is so prohibitive that burgeoning urban populations are increasingly finding solace in slums and unserviced hovels that have no piped water, often cramped, ill-lit and unhygienic. But the appetite of housing development moguls has seen to it that their heads do not rest pretty as they are routinely demolished or torched.No longer strangeLook at the internally displaced languishing in transit camps. Their universal prayer is to own a roof over their heads.However, one can be forgiven for doubting the commitment of those detailed with ensuring that the policy of according as many people as possible the opportunity to own a home succeeds if the eagerly awaited Efficiency Monitoring Unit audit of the NHC is anything to go by.That officials have schemed, bribed, connived and literally stolen NHC-run houses merely confirms the rapacity of parastatal staff.That the report details almost mindless misappropriation of public property is no longer strange news to relate.In a nation where looting of public property is considered almost a religious calling, the findings can be considered "normal" by Kenyan standards. We have been treated to straight-faced ministers denying systematic theft in corporations under their respective dockets, even when the proof is staring them in the face as their names have often been invoked to consummate these illegal dealings.When State operatives connived to empty the Treasury under the guise of non-existent gold exports, Goldenberg was born, grown and is ageing gracefully in some or other commission shelf as successive Attorneys-General and public prosecutors encounter a massive wall of secrecy and labyrinthine case files.As-yet-unidentified people made billions of fuel vanish into thin air in what became known as the Triton Affair that is doing the ping-pong in courts across borders.When over Sh90 million meant to boost the free primary education programme went off the radar, a damning report and demands from the British Government kept the nation enthralled as counter-accusations flew back and forth. There has never been sufficient closure over this matter, but as the British dropped their claim, means they were placated somewhat.Highly placed personalities were implicated in an inflated land purchase agreement meant to replace the Lang’ata Cemetery in the city, but again, that is a matter under court review. Unresolved!Recently, a "window of opportunity" miraculously choked the Shilling, spiked the cost of living and attempts to unravel the web of conspiracy has degenerated into a mere academic exercise.Ill-gotten gainsEven more scandals have rocked the nation during the tendering and supply of staple maize, maize seed, subsidised fertilisers, drugs to hospital, spare parts, executive seating for the National Assembly, imported sugar, refurbishing of state offices, roads and water projects, just to name a few.Luckily for the perpetrators, Kenyans have a pact with collective amnesia that always leaves the concern at the hands of a handful non-governmental organisations and human rights groups. They can then quietly enjoy their ill-gotten gains without a care in the world. Not even the clauses and penalties introduced to curb graft in the new Constitution seem to have jolted the Lords of Impunity.Will some meaningful deterrent action be taken in the NHC debacle? Who will ensure a sanitised version is not presented as the allegations are swept under the carpet of public view? Are all the so-called "powerful" statements against runaway graft going to remain just that or can the ordinary people who – no doubt – witness such shenanigans hatched in their offices speak out? Are we short on whistleblowers?Can the real Kenyan stand up?

NHC saga confirms the depth of graft taproot

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NHC saga confirms the depth of graft taproot

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