Cynics have identified early signs in aspirants for elective public offices who are likely to be corrupt. The signs still need psychosocial analysis, but they are worth sharing.
Taxpayers, whose sweat fattens public officers, have a right to know. The many who suffer neglect when public money for healthcare or water is stolen, need to know choices have consequences.
Aspirants who are likely to loot are always obsessed with their campaign war chests. They exploit the power of money to scare rivals. They say one needs about Sh5 billion to run a viable presidential campaign.
Viable aspirants would also need a network of friends, individuals and corporates, who pay Sh5 million for a dinner plate at a seven-star hotel. This earns the benefactors prime seats – a whispering distance from the candidate.
There is another layer of friends and companies that pay Sh2 million or Sh1 million per plate for dinner at exquisite hotels. They can drop a note to the candidate saying, 'Remember us, sir, when you get there.'
Viable presidential aspirants should also have a network of international friends. Now you know why Chinese companies are winning tenders to build classrooms.
Passion doesn't take wannabe presidents far. It did not take Mwalimu Abduba Dida far during the 2013 and 2017 general elections. Dida understands you cannot raise campaign money through empathy and sympathy.
The president’s monthly salary is Sh2.5 million, or Sh30 million a year, or Sh150 million for a five-year tenure. This is Sh4.85 billion below the initial investment in public gullibility.
Kenya is wobbling under massive corruption because politics is commercialised. Fisherfolk know fish begins to rot at the head. The very top should set the pace for integrity in public office.
Corruption is devolved. One needs Sh1 billion to run a viable gubernatorial campaign, they say, in an eight-constituency county. But why spend Sh1 billion in campaigns for a low-paying public office?
A governor earns Sh1 million per month. Or Sh12 million per year, which makes Sh60 million in five years, or Sh120 million for the maximum two terms.
A governor cannot recover the Sh1 billion spent on campaigns, even after 10 years of honest income. The easy way of recovering their investment in public gullibility, for now, is through corruption, especially in accountability-free zone counties. Gubernatorial aspirants who throw money at voters are entrepreneurs.
Parliamentary aspirants who bait vulnerable voters are budding lootoçrats. Such aspirants would spend about Sh100 million to campaign, say, in an eight-ward constituency. The money trickles down to polling stations to compromise voters. Some wards have up to 25 polling stations, with about 800 voters.
They target the National Government Constituency Development Fund, which MPs control. Or National Government Affirmative Fund, which county women representatives control. They also target House committees to champion vested interests. Or put defensive curtains around looting governors for a monthly retainer.
Members of county assemblies, too, have joined the electoral muddle. Some are willing to spend up to Sh20 millionin campaigns. Such MCAs would dance to the tunes of thieving governors to make money.
Political money peddlers have the motivation to steal. They are looking for pilferage opportunities. Public offices, for now, are tested platforms for corruption.
Corruptible aspirants always gang up with the like-minded. Governor aspirants align with parliamentary and ward aspirants who flatter their thieving skills.
The other aspirants also need a governor who will feed them crumbs, as the county chief loots the steak. They build networks of plunder to protect each other.
Birds of a feather flock together to gather. Wonder no more why some MPs and MCAs don't protest the rape of their counties. They cannot speak with full mouths.
The corruptible associate with the corrupt. They defend corruption. They are suspicious and sensitive to issues around corruption. They don't throw stones because they live in glasshouses.
A leader who is corrupt, or likely to be corrupt, usually poses as generous; buys support; hires goons to abuse others on his behalf, is violent, and uses money to sanitise his image.
Preponderance of these signs in a future thief is inversely proportional to the magnitude of looting voters should expect. Such politicians and their lackeys often find excuses to rationalise deceit.
Finally, a corruption suspect who has been charged in court, and found with a case to answer, is a thief with a practising licence. We, the voters, now know.
