Next anti-corruption director will need more support than Ringera

By Kilemi Mwiria

The next Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC) director will not succeed under the prevailing legal and political arrangement.

 We may want to learn from Indonesia’s experience. When President Susislo Bambang Yudhoyono came to power in 2004, like our 2003 Narc government, he promised zero tolerance to corruption. Unlike us, however, he decided corruption can only be handled unconventionally.

He thus established a quasi-independent corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) which could publicly name, arrest and call corruption suspects to testify. Its targets include powerful politicians, judges and senior police officers. Suspects are detained while on trial to guard against interference with court proceedings. The Indonesia commission has power to take over cases in the hands of the police and can also investigate the police and attorney general’s offices. The president has co-operated by suspending high profile Government officials accused of corruption.

This commission has established a national anti-corruption court of five judges, three being independent credible professionals and not career judges likely to have been corrupted by the system. The corruption courts are also to be established in the provinces. Evidence used in prosecutions includes wire tapping of telephone conversations without warrants. As a result, Indonesia’s corruption ranking has improved from a low of 9.3 to 31.4 according to the World Bank’s governance indicators. A rank of a 100 represents the best score (Singapore stands at 95.5) and 0 the worst.

Such draconian measures call for strong political will. President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga must lead the fight from the front by sacrificing even their strongest of supporters who have been associated with corruption. Appointments to senior government jobs should be based on merit and not political and tribal considerations and must be vetted by a reformed Parliament. We need to consider re-advertising all senior positions in the public service and Judiciary to rid them of political baggage. Likewise, we must have minimum ethical criteria for eligibility to Parliament, which should eliminate candidates linked with scandals.

Persons beyond reproach

The ongoing civil service, judicial and police reforms should be intensified, as should public education campaigns on corruption. Those occupying positions likely to be compromised by the corrupt — such as judges, magistrates, police officers and tax collectors — should be rewarded well enough not to be easily targeted by the corrupt even though one’s moral standing is superior to high pay. Computerisation of Government records can also minimise corruption.

Leadership of the Ministry of Justice and the Attorney General’s office should be by persons beyond reproach and ready to act swiftly against the corrupt. Ringera told us how he was inhibited by his inability to carry through prosecutions after files on key investigations got to the Attorney General’s chambers. But how much can we expect from that office if the sitting Attorney General did nothing to prevent the corruption of yesteryears and which is the main subject of most corruption scandals in Kenya today?

Likewise, how possible is it that the current Minister for Justice can oversee KACC and the fight against corruption when he has been mentioned adversely by previous parliamentary public accounts committees and recommended for further investigation?

What is being suggested may be impossible under the current political dispensation where the President’s and PM’s partnership is not necessarily based on a common ideology and with them being surrounded by some personalities who are prime targets for a brave KACC director. It may only be possible under a well intentioned dictatorship, because our democracy has often been an enemy of the fight against corruption.

—The writer ([email protected]) is an Assistant Minister for Higher Education, Science and Technology and MP for Tigania West.