A lot is at stake, corruption fight cannot and must not disappoint

Nothing now stands in the way for a lifestyle audit for senior government officials after the courts lifted the last hurdle to the exercise last week. President Uhuru Kenyatta has indicated he will lead the way. His deputy William Ruto, he says, will also follow suit in the undertaking that should get beneficiaries of graft out of government payroll.

If the exercise has to be seen as not unfairly targeting procurement officers and junior accountants, the government must set the correct tone by making it mandatory for all other public officials, among them Cabinet Secretaries and their Principal Secretaries.

It is common knowledge that the procurement officers do not ‘eat’ alone. They are in most cases mere agents in the bigger scheme. Junior officers on their own cannot commandeer the grand theft of public resources that has been unearthed in the last two months. Officials of government parastatals that have also been caught up in the corruption web must be thoroughly investigated and action taken. No stone should be left unturned.

The information being sought is sufficient to smoke out the culprits. The addition of a lie detector or polygraph test, despite its shortcomings, will also help boost the process. From the personal information, emails, residential addresses of the officers and their spouses, ownership status of their current residence, social media accounts to bank statements and mobile money statements, it will just be a matter of time before the truth is laid bare.

The war should also go beyond this. Most stolen money is either sunk in real estate projects, stashed abroad or placed in bank accounts, houses and businesses registered in the names of family members, associates and close friends. The state has to do whatever it takes to smoke out the racketeers. We believe that for the war on graft to succeed, it must not be laced with political malice. We miss out on public interest when we wedge an anti-corruption war with the sole end game of ‘fixing’ particular individual politicians eyeing high offices. 

The road has been long and thorny but this isn’t the time to tire. The setting up of a central department to purchase all common user items for government department, suffice to say, is a good step.

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, 70 per cent of all corruption in the country is related to procurement. This is why the push to have all projects and government tenders published online is also a welcome move that will boost transparency. The last time the directive was given, those who should have implemented it did not. For all these initiatives to work, there must be real commitment to follow through to the bitter end. Skeletons continue to come out as the fight against corruption takes shape. More sideshows and distractions will come up along the way.

Corruption architects will always fight back. It will be remembered that the push to get public officials declare their wealth was watered down by politicians when they weakened the Integrity and Leadership law.  

A report by the Efficiency Monitoring Unit showed that nearly 25 per cent of public servants do not file their wealth declaration forms. Some of the worst offenders are MPs and the judicial staff who adjudicate over cases.

For the fight against corruption to bear meaningful results, let everyone found culpable, irrespective of their political, cultural, religious and economic status carry their fair share of their cross.

Because of corruption, a lot is at stake. Investor confidence is waning and the economic advantage we long held over its neighbours is threatened. President Kenyatta, who is keen to secure his legacy, is obliged to ensure no scared cow is spared in the purge. Kenyans are a disillusioned lot. It can never be business as usual.