It is the end of an era for the thousands of citizens that lived and experienced retired President Moi’s leadership. Part of his mandate while in office, was to nurture our economy into a robust and sustainable state that could feed the masses and compete with other economies at the global scale.
However, corruption as he would repeatedly lament, was a barrier to this dream. While laying the foundation stone for the New Kapsabet AIC church station in Nandi in 2016 he stated, “Corruption is bad…I am appealing to all Christians to help the government eliminate this bad thing…if you are senior government official anywhere, please help in stopping this bad thing that is giving the government a bad image’’
Years later, citizens are still grappling with the challenges of corruption. Indeed, corruption is now a perennial debate that is hard to ignore. It has grown from a complex mix of socio-political and economic factors to a menace that is fanned by nepotism, lack of public goodwill and lax accountability structures.
We are reminded of incidences like that of the now infamous receptionist at the National Health Insurance Fund whose fortune was allegedly built on the remittances from majority of Kenyans. We are also awake to the cases before investigative bodies that belie the fact that there are a few ambitious Kenyans that have betrayed us. Indeed, rent-seekers live within our midst and we are repeatedly awe-struck about their rags to riches stories.
All is not lost however, for the country is making strides towards eliminating the vice. There is political goodwill at the highest offices with President Uhuru at the forefront in the fight against corruption. Before today, it was unfathomable to see cabinet secretaries in the docks over abuse of office. That even elected leaders can lose their seats over corruption is something we couldn’t have imagined ten years ago. It is the political and institutional resolve that has borne incremental fruits. It is also these wins that should motivate us to aim for much more at individual and national levels.
In January 2019, during the conference on the Multisectoral Initiative Against Corruption, President Uhuru reminded Kenyans that our collective efforts are required if we are to effectively deal with corruption. Sadly though, the deep and widespread tentacles of corruption in our society are hinged on our long-term socialization into the culture of sleaze. Often times, the revelations on corruption are met with uninspired lamentations on the streets and social media spaces. Our national anger is often directed towards institutions that are perceived as complacent in the fight as we loudly decry the prevalence of cartels from within our offices and communities.
It behoves us to introspect on our role in the on-going war against corruption. Just how much money does the country lose when we fail to pay for public goods and services? At what point do we improve on our service delivery when we chose to pay for services that should otherwise be free? What would happen for instance, if all matatu drivers stopped giving bribes to police officers along our roads?
As a society, we can unlearn certain vices and inculcate the culture of proactivity in the war against graft. Singapore for example, has maintained its top ten ranking in the Transparency International annual Corruption Perception Index (CPI) because its citizens frown upon sleaze. They collectively expect good service as a right as opposed to a privilege.
They further understand that paying bribes for services does not necessarily equal quality service delivery. Interestingly, perception surveys by the EACC have noted that at least one in every three people seeking public services would offer a bribe. Yet, even after paying their way around it, a huge percentage of those respondents still feel dissatisfied with the services they obtained.
Let us endeavour to squander the political and institutional goodwill that currently exists in our midst. The Presidency, EACC, ODPP, DCI and the judiciary need our unequivocal support to shift from the culture of sleaze and embrace transparency and accountability in our personal and national dealings. We should refuse to be mere observers in this quest against graft because corruption only thrives when the people accept and tolerate it.
