We need to get our act together on the issue fighting grand corruption
What you need to know:
- But then, everybody from the President to opposition leaders, from governors to clerics, are always talking about it, and this for a good reason.
- Yet the man was declared the winner of a vetting process carried out by the same committee and endorsed by the same Parliament three years ago.
- Then Mr Matemu sends EACC deputy chief executive, Mr Michael Mubea, on compulsory leave, but the EACC chief executive, Mr Halakhe Waqo, reportedly says no way.
It appears the fight against corruption — or the apparent lack of it — is becoming the favourite subject in this column, and for this I beg the indulgence of my readers, and my detractors too.
But then, everybody from the President to opposition leaders, from governors to clerics, are always talking about it, and this for a good reason.
The issue has become a national obsession, not least because corruption is slowly strangling our nation, but also because we seem to be talking at cross-purposes.
As a result, the war against graft has become a baffling, convoluted matter, with members of the organ that is supposed to be fighting it being sent home in disgrace.
There is no use anyone imagining that there is a clear-cut divide between the bad and the good guys, between the incorruptible sheriffs and tobacco-chewing villains on this matter of graft. No, it is much deeper than that, and the shades of grey are ever widening.
Needless to say, very few of us can claim with a straight face that we have never engaged in any form of corruption. The moment you surreptitiously hand over that Sh200 to a policeman to avoid being taken to court for a traffic offence, you are doing so for expediency — to avoid wasting too much time, or paying too huge a fine.
How then can you stand up and condemn the policeman for accepting the bribe that you voluntarily offered with the aim of saving you time, money and stigma? How different are you from the fellow who will deliberately rig the tendering process and pocket Sh200 million?
In other words, very few of us are clean on this matter, but the ones who end up hogging the limelight are the fat cats, tenderpreneurs, scammers, 10 per centers, who are never jailed, while, of course, the lesser fry are invariably incarcerated for spoiling the party.
What is even more astonishing is that even as we profess to hate graft in all its manifestations, we cannot quite seem to agree on how to fight it, or who should actually do it.
Take the case of suspended Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission chairman Mumo Matemu and his deputy, who may be out of work in 30 days if a tribunal set up by the President finds them guilty of professional misconduct. This followed recommendations by the parliamentary Justice and Legal Affairs Committee.
DECLARED THE WINNER
Yet the man was declared the winner of a vetting process carried out by the same committee and endorsed by the same Parliament three years ago.
What could have happened in the meantime to make the MPs change their minds? Considering that Mr Matemu could not even take up his job until last year after a court challenge and an appeal, what is the public supposed to conclude from this strange circus? That the much-hyped vetting is too much ado about nothing?
Mr Matemu’s case is strange in more ways than one. First, his former two deputies, Ms Irene Keino and Ms Jane Onsongo, denounce him in a letter to the President and recommend his removal.
Then when it is too late, they renounce the letter. Then Dr Onsongo publicly resigns from her job, but her employer claims she has merely taken leave. We do not hear from her again.
Then Mr Matemu sends EACC deputy chief executive, Mr Michael Mubea, on compulsory leave, but the EACC chief executive, Mr Halakhe Waqo, reportedly says no way.
So Mr Mubea stays put, only to be sent home by the same commission, before Mr Matemu himself is shown the door. Suddenly, there is no commission, only a secretariat. So what is really going on here? It is enough to make the mind reel.
We really do need to get our act together on this business of fighting grand corruption.
Soon after the President ordered five Cabinet secretaries, a number of principal secretaries and other senior government officials, a few governors and senators to step aside so they can be investigated, he was hailed by many Kenyans for taking a bold step to clean up the Augean Stables in his government.
But soon, some discordant voices started wondering whether he had not overstepped his constitutional mandate. Surprisingly, among them were those of senior politicians who had loudly accused him of failing to fight the vice. How can such people expect to have their cake and eat it too?
