Is EACC up to the task of fighting corruption?

Until mid-last year, I had problems with the usage of the words ‘loose’ and ‘lose’ which I applied interchangeably; sometimes out of context. Getting cured of this was ridiculously simple.

A senior editor going through a commentary I had penned pointed out I had misapplied the word, ‘loose’, then to emphasise this, he shook his wrist! Simple, yet so effective. Every time I have to use either of the two words, I mentally visualise him shaking his wrist.

Attaching objects, symbols, lyrics, smell or numbers to certain things aids recollection and as someone who pens a lot, I get ideas from the most unlikely quarters. Even today I recall my primary school science teacher telling us to memorise acronyms like ‘roygbiv’ to save us the agony of trying to remember the colours of the rainbow.

Thus, while walking along a section of Mombasa Road a couple of days back, my attention was instinctively drawn to a pile of human waste over which blue bottle flies were merrily and busily buzzing.

Without any conscious effort, my mind transposed this sight with https://cdn.standardmedia.co.ke/images of a few politicians who have been buzzing over the growing mound of dirt from, lately, the Eurobond and other scams that besmirch the government.

Just like the flies that were not overly concerned with how the dirt got where they now celebrated it, there are leaders in this country who cannot contextualise the Eurobond but are in the vanguard explaining how the money was used.

It is this breed of impulsive, sentimental leaders whom President Uhuru Kenyatta, while addressing the nation during the 52nd Jamhuri Day celebrations, admonished to support his administration in a mature manner.

Watching a press conference called by a few Jubilee legislators, which two of their Senator colleagues, Mike Sonko and John Lonyangapuo, snubbed; calling instead for sobriety and objectivity over the Eurobond matter, a lot of inconsistencies arose.

The sideshows the legislators engaged in simply confirmed they are drawn to media cameras as flies are to dirt even if it is only to make a comical spectacle of themselves.

Coming a couple of days after Cabinet Secretary for Treasury Henry Rotich had appeared before the Ethics and Anti- Corruption Commission (EACC) and requested for more time to get the right answers from concerned ministries in the Eurobond web, I was left wondering what this team’s source of figures was.

Mr Rotich had given a three week ultimatum to his colleagues to give a breakdown of how they had used the money that was allegedly disbursed to them. A check on the figures posted on the Treasury’s website showed discrepancies in the 2013-2014 financial year.

When the Opposition raised the vexatious National Youth Service matter where Sh791 million could not be accounted for, a few hapless legislators from the Jubilee side went ballistic.

Some loose cannons on that team came close to detonating; held in place only by the National Cohesion and Integration Commission’s threat of arresting them over hate speech.

Anybody who cared to listen would have heard how the green-eyed monster had led the Opposition to pick on Jubilees flagship project (NYS) that had given the youth of this country a reason to smile for censorship.

They praised former Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru for doing exemplary work, giving millions of Kenyan youth a reason to believe in themselves and the goodness of their Government, which begs the question; at what point then do MP Aden Duale and senators Kithure Kindiki and Kipchumba Murkomen want Kenyans to believe the NYS was Raila’s project from which he was primed to get a ten per cent kickback from the Eurobond financing?

Doesn’t such contradiction expose these legislators for what they are; busybodies without the interests of the country at heart?

On the other hand, why hasn’t EACC called on these legislators to record statements based on their very weighty claim against Mr Odinga, which bespeaks corruption?

If they have the requisite proof, what holds them from enlisting the help of EACC to take Mr Odinga to task? Given the manner in which EACC has been handling corruption cases, fumbling from one allegation to other, issuing summonses that bear no fruit other than to give the impression the anti-graft body is effective, and submitting files the Director of Public Prosecution returns because the evidence adduced cannot sustain a conviction; can EACC be trusted to effectively do the job?

Does EACC have the legal basis, especially after Members of Parliament sent its remaining commissioners packing (two had resigned citing undue interference from certain quarters), to carry out its work without being subjected to legal challenges? Today EACC is being managed by a secretariat that may not have powers to initiate criminal cases.

Operations between the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, EACC and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations appear to be out of synch. How can one expect a car whose gearbox engages the reverse gear when the dashboard dial reads drive to move forward?