Projects cannot work amid corruption

My take-home from Robert Shaw’s article in his latest column, “Let State eliminate these ironical frustrations and make SGR viable” (DN, Sept 16) is that the government must get serious about reducing the hassle factor on the standard gauge railway (SGR) cargo operations and facilities to make it “the better option” for freighters.

And true, indeed, the return on the huge investments done from 2013 by the Jubilee government is dismally disappointing and not of any help to the people they were intended to help. The massive rip-offs — like in the scandal in the Medical Equipment Lease to counties project — should worry us all, especially those who aspire to be transformative leaders in this country.

There are areas which such serious aspiring candidates, who are keen to rescue this country from the capture of corruption cartels, should focus on.

For starters, four sectors need radical remedial audit: Transport (SGR), energy, healthcare and water. The heads of these four sectors must be recruited competitively locally or internationally and tasked with overhauling the current systems and given one year to come up with tangible measurable results.

The shameful stories like in the energy sector, where we have a huge electricity surplus but an extremely weak power distribution institution, should be eliminated. All those who have pilferaged these institutions should be tried in the shortest time possible and the ill-gotten loot returned to the State.

And in the economist Shaw’s words, “The most expensive infrastructure projects, operating way below capacity and almost zero returns on investments, will be transformed into game changers.”

Onesmus Maritim, Kericho

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One may be excused to think that the greatest scourge we face as a country is the coronavirus pandemic but the reality is that corruption is the mother and father of all imaginable scourges.

Corruption, in its wider context, is not only the loss of resources meant to uplift the living standards of the citizenry but also the unmet expectations from the leadership. When leaders fail to stick to timelines for delivering on their election manifestos, which is the worst form of corruption.

The hallmark of this form of corruption is politics of self-preservation, which has put our country in a perpetual campaign mode. Development will remain a mirage so long as this is the modus operandi by elected leaders.

To realise any meaningful development, we must have a paradigm shift in the manner that we conduct politics. Just pointing fingers in as far as corruption is concerned is a broken record.

Muriithi King’au, Laikipia