According to the Corruption Perception Index 2018 by Transparency International, Kenya is ranked position 144 out of 180 countries. This puts our beloved country among the most corrupt countries of the world.
This ranking can be attributed not only to the long list of scandals that have plagued the country but also to the volumes of cash involved and lack of sophistry, or the primitive, shameless manner in which the public coffers have been raided under the watch of Jubilee Government. Put together, they make the mind-boggling Goldenberg Scandal of the Nyayo era look like child’s play.
You can talk of the Eurobond, whose billions of shillings in proceeds government could not put a finger on. Then came the first, and second National Youth Service scandal, the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) scandal, the Afya House scandal, KPLC scandal, SGR, National Land Commission, many others in between and now the dams scandal.
Each and every of those has seen government lose money in billions. I doubt any scandal in which only millions, no matter how many, are lost would get attention from the media, leave alone the EACC or the DCI. Isn’t it annoying that the Deputy President thinks Sh7 billion is not worth making noise about?
Corruption by government mandarins has become the norm. Talk in town now is that government only comes up with projects with the sole purpose of fleecing. Any government tender is now looked at with suspicion. Surprisingly, those suspicions have always been proved.
Tragedy is, this new norm, of super corruption orchestrated by government’s own top officials is pushing the economy of the country down the drain. Public service delivery is at its worst, the cost of living is damn high and it is expensive to do business in Kenya as well, as government taxes prohibitively to quench its thirst for blind expenditure. With neighbours in the region including Tanzania, Ethiopia, Ruanda and Eritrea emerging from their slumber, your guess is as good as mine on what will become of Kenya 10, 20 years from now.
I humbly call upon President Uhuru Kenyatta to wake from the slumber. War on sleaze can never be won by throwing of tantrums here and there. It can only be won by allowing, and calling upon those institutions constitutionally tasked with fighting the vice to carry out that mandate diligently.
Let one or two of your CSs, or PSs, on proper investigations devoid of witch- hunt, go to jail and you won’t believe the milestones you’ll achieve in this war. Your legacy is wholesomely hinged on this, not on the Big Four Agenda.
