Culture of graft benefits the middle-class

Corruption in counties is not just a question of governors letting the electorate down, it is about the culture of looking at the state as an alien notion or thing that should be looted. In Kenya, power is sought not to render service, but to steal from the public.

The core principles of a republic, with citizens and not subjects, is to serve the people. Public office should not be used for personal gain. The only benefit is the perks that come with the office.

But in our case, public office has become a cash cow from the top to the bottom. Part of the problem is cultural. We have a culture that tolerates theft. This is not culture as defined in a traditional society, but one that has evolved, especially among the middle class. A casual review of our commercial enterprise shows some of the most successful are owned by civil servants, politicians, or entrepreneurs associated with a political establishment. It is clear that our middle-class was the creation of theft of public resources.

We need a concerted effort, through law enforcement and moral education, to restore the sanctity of public property and conscience of ordinary Kenyans and the general public to discourage corruption. In this facet, people who have wealth they can’t explain will become pariahs other than role-models.

Much as we vilify and condemn politicians, we admire their riches and aspire to live like them. In private, we run to them with our little problems; churches look for their handouts, and so on. In essence, the condemnation of corruption is lip service and reveals that deep inside, people are corrupt and crave the opportunity. Many Kenyans grumble only because they have no chance to steal.

It is a question of going back to the basics of what is good and what is wrong. In doing so, law enforcement must look at the spirit of the Constitution other than letter when dealing with graft cases. We must praise the sterling effort of Chief Magistrate Douglas Ogoti, who has stood out as a beacon of hope in the fight against graft.

The failure of our county governments to tame graft rests with the Senate. Senators have failed to come up with legislation to help hold governors accountable. We must strengthen our scanty oversight legislation. Secondly, the Salaries and Remuneration Commission has failed to give Senators the status they deserve, in terms of remuneration, to enable them to supervise and oversight governors – especially when they get the same pay as MPs.

The other challenge is that MPs, expected to play oversight, are carrying out executive functions. This makes them reluctant to ask questions lest they shoot themselves in the foot.

We need to remove funds from the control of MCAs or MPs so that the excesses of the executive is checked without compromise in order to end situations where state officers scratch each others back. We need to operationalise these through legislation.

The rights activist spoke to the Star