Majority of Kenyans are in support of the renewed war against corruption and other crimes that undermine our country. With deference, I want to offer my 5-Cents Advise. My advice is founded on my studies of how US, Italy, Japan, Singapore and even South Africa have done and succeeded in fighting Corruption and Impunity.
1. Plea Bargain: this is your biggest tool. Get Suspects to turn against fellow Suspects. And get material Suspects to enter into plea bargain. The ongoing case against El Chapo in New York is because FBI managed to enter into plea bargain with the ICT Director Of El Chapo.
2. Don’t charge everyone. Criminal prosecutions aren’t meant to end crime in society but to act as cautionary tale. Choose whom to charge. The ultimate beneficiaries of a crime ought to be the ones charged, not “watu wa mkono “. Charging everyone muddies the waters! Multiple Accused Persons confuse everyone including the Prosecutors and the Judge. Such a case is the dream of every Defence Lawyer.
3. Use and develop the Writ of Subpoenas to arrest Suspects, keep them in long custody, raid their offices and houses and their bank accounts. The Courts have an obligation to help you in this. You can’t be accused of not presenting good cases when the Courts undermine you. The Rights Of an Accused Person including right to be presented in Court within 24 hours are not absolute. And right to bail is not absolute. In Japan, a developed democracy, Suspects can be destined for as long as even a Year.
4. Use experts in collecting evidence. In corruption cases, retain services of ICT and Forensic Experts to trace the money. And let these experts be your witnesses. With expert evidence and collaborated with direct Or circumstantial evidence, you will get convictions. Get experts in each field of the crime. Let informatics be your biggest tool.
5. Be creative in what law to charge a Suspect. The law gives you multiple laws to charge including but not limited to The Penal Code, Public Officer Ethics Act, Anti-Corruption Act, Proceeds Of Crime & Anti-Money Laundering Act, Public Finance Management Act and Public Procurement Act. In US and Italy, when they couldn’t get evidence on the criminal activities because of the Oath Of Silence, the Mafia Bosses were charged with lesser and provable crimes of Tax Evasion which still led to long jail terms. Another crime is undermining the Judicial Process. Perjury, False Statements, Deceiving Witnesses, Interfering with Witnesses and destroying evidence can be easily proved and achieve same goal of conviction.
6. Encourage Whistleblowers … Incentivize them …. Offer them 20% of sums recovered from the Suspects on conviction. Whistleblowers are your vanguard army.
7. Collaborate with the Judiciary, Police, CID and and NIS in gathering and collecting evidence. Gathering and collecting evidence can’t be undermining the rights of anyone … the Evidence collected will be either be Exculpatory or Inculpatory … How can one fear evidence being collected unless they are guilty? How can the Courts surely stop evidence from being collected?
It is in the public good and Public Interest they we end Corruption and Impunity. We can’t keep losing 1/3 of our annual budget to outright theft and we can’t stop it. Let everyone know that if we don’t work together to end Corruption, then when Hospitals run out of medicine, Schools run out of books, Government can’t pay salaries and majority of the people are unable to buy food or medicine, then no one is safe. And the Country would be imperiled. When the majority of the people are impoverished and unite, there will be a bloody revolution that no army can stop. Corruption and Impunity sow the seeds of a bloody revolution that will literally eat the ruling class.
When we end Corruption and Impunity, everyone gets a slice of the Bread even if the elite have three slices and everyone is safe.
The Nation trusts you to deliver on your mandate. Don’t be intimidated. Let no one, not even the Courts derogate your mandate.
Bonne Chance! barak allh!
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