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How to fight the system that is corruption

Living

I had a very heated conversation the other night on effecting change in the society. I think the level of corruption in Kenya is absolutely ridiculous. But what I find even more ridiculous is how we as Kenyans have become so inundated that we accept it as part of our daily lives. This issue irks me so much that I even want to run for women rep and start straitening this nonsense out because it’s completely getting out of hand. Anyway, enough about my political aspirations, what I want to focus on is ideology and leadership.

So back to this heated conversation we had. We were basically arguing on whether it’s possible to effect significant change in a society without getting your hands dirty. On one hand, one of my friends insisted that in order to change the system, you need to play by the rules up until you have earned a certain level of respect, gained a following and have established enough powerful connections to help you achieve your goal. To put this in context, let’s say I want to run for Nairobi Women Rep and my goal is to eradicate corruption in the governmental organizations created to improve the lives of women and children. Using my friend’s logic, I’ll basically go into the system, play by the same dirty rules while amassing a following big enough to support me- so this would include things like voter manipulation through bribes; forming alliances with existing politicians (even though they play dirty) in order to ensure that I have supporters in the “higher-ups” that will protect me. Finally, when I secure my role of women rep and I have enough power to effect change, I start the process of eradicating corruption. It makes sense right?

As much as I completely disagree with this logic, I definitely understand its underpinnings. You cannot make significant impact if you act as a single entity trying to change or completely obliterate an entire system. However, I’m a firm believer that your morals and values should always be your guiding compass. Yes, it makes sense to play by the system and use its own rules to overthrow it, but once you sell your values, what good have you truly done? In situations where the main aim is to change a system that is ethically wrong, such as corruption, sacrificing your values like integrity, in order to achieve this, will never justify the end result you achieve.

It’s basically like the “reduce, reuse, recycle” symbol, which is a combination of three parts that all contribute to the main goal of reducing waste. You can reduce your use of plastic only but you still contribute to wastage. You can decide to only reuse your pre-existing plastic wares but even then, everything has a varied durability and you’d still need to buy more plastics. I can go on and on but when you combine reducing the amount of plastics you buy, reusing the plastics you already have and purchasing recycled products, the change you effect is much greater than if you were to place more emphasis on one component. In a similar vein, your values, your goal and the method you use to achieve the goal are a three-part cycle where each component feeds into the other. If you place more emphasis on value as opposed to method, you run the risk of not being able to affect change. If you place more emphasis on method as opposed to values, then the new system you are trying to create is no better than what you are trying to replace.

Finally, I’d just like to reiterate that this point of view is not non-realistic. To bring great change, you need to be prepared to fight and even lose things that you hold dear to you such as money, friends or even your life. This is why not everyone can be Wangari Maathai or Pio Gama Pinto because you need a supernatural kind of grit that enables you to stand by your values even in the face of extreme adversity in order to bring about positive change. However, remember that just supporting someone you believe is doing things the right way is more than enough. You need not become a radical or lay down your life for a cause. Simply identify someone with aligned values and visions as yours and support them in whatever way possible. That way, the people like me that are crazy enough to fight the system have your support and encouragement to bring about the change we want to see. When we change our mentalities and begin supporting the few people that dared to defy the odds, only then can we see breakthroughs in issues such as the fight against corruption.

Kenyan Mwananchi is a blogger at (https://wondalandavenue.blogspot.co.ke/) and enjoys long drives through neighborhoods she can’t afford to live in. 

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