Any war, including the current one on Al Shabaab, requires commitment at the top and unwavering support by the citizens so that the state machinery is morally inspired and fully resourced to fight to death.
Corruption impoverishes millions and takes many innocent lives through theft of public resources meant for essential service delivery, development projects, maize for the poor, drugs for the sick, school funds, etc
However, Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) is not a Kenya Defence Force type powerhouse raring to go to war but an Amisom type outfit that the Government prefers should keep peace in the anti-corruption battle ground.
Previous heads of this ‘peacekeeping’ force were hounded out of office for either not keeping the peace, or worse still, for keeping it!
It will not even be a ‘Mumo’ wrestling match that rankles folks; we all love it but only if we or our friends are not in or near the ring. As the Yankees say, you are damned if you do it, and damned if you don’t!
The anti-graft war is at a crossroads. The top leaders lack the political will to enforce the mythical zero tolerance. The political class abhors the war that they feel targets them, just when they need resources to oil their campaigns. The ordinary citizens are fatigued by a fruitless war that only cages petty thieves.
The donors are grudgingly content with refund of their stolen funds. The civil society barks less often, convinced that the political reforms would enhance accountability.
Commitment and motivation at EACC is at its lowest ebb as staff await their fate in the pending vetting. And above all, the EACC Act significantly weakened the mandate and powers of the institution.
Just as Mr Matemo and his two commissioners were nominated, Transparency International ranked Kenya as one of the most corrupt countries in the world, at position 154 out of 182 countries. Not surprisingly and as usual, we are in the same super league as Zimbabwe and other nearly ‘failed’ states.
It is a coveted position that we have held on to in recent years. Thanks to the rhetorical ‘commitment’ to the graft war by the Coalition Government, we are stuck in a rat race. The more we fight corruption, the less the impact it seems, and the higher the prevalence and bribery rates.
On the same day, the Chief Justice shocked the nation by his exposure of the shoddy construction work at Milimani Law Courts. The building cost billions to repair but was falling apart barley a year into its occupation.
Parliament was conducting an inquiry to unravel the rot in the Lands Ministry that precipitated the Syokimau demolitions in which Kenyans may have lost billions to fraudsters. Earlier, the PM stunned MPs with his casual admission that the Government now simply refunds donors if their money is misappropriated; the figure is now nearly Sh3 billion this year alone!
The private sector is not spared too. The Price Waterhouse Coopers just released a gloomy report that placed Kenya at the top of the world with the highest level of economic crimes, particularly in procurement fraud and theft of money and other assets.
Among the corporate entities in 78 countries in the study, 61 per cent of the 91 companies surveyed in Kenya were victims of the vice, including blue chip companies listed on Nairobi Securities Exchange.
Hopefully, Matemo and his team will take the baton from us next week to lead a war that the nation is reluctant to fight. But nonetheless, the Constitution deems it a war and he must lead our cowardly nation to what has become a war of wits.
The writer is a former MP for Mandera Central and political economist". Courtesy of Standard Digital.
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