The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission has just released a report showing that the average Kenyan paid Sh11,625 in bribes in 2023.
This is shocking but not surprising. Almost all of us have paid bribes at one time or another.
Very few people completely refuse to pay a bribe but no-one is happy about it. The reasons behind graft are complex. Partly it has been normalised. Partly low government salaries are to blame. And partly it is encouraged by the very high income inequality in Kenya.
How does one escape the corruption trap? In the long-term, if government gave all Kenyans first-class education and health care, there would be much less reason to be corrupt.
In the short-term, the best way forward is to give the EACC powers to prosecute its own cases of bribery and corruption, something it has repeatedly asked for. Too often, the EACC sends a file to the Director of Public Prosecutions and it is returned as containing inadequate evidence.
Let the EACC prosecute its own cases in court. If the evidence is inadequate, the case will be thrown out. If the court is convinced, a corrupt person will go to jail.
Quote of the day: "There will never be great architects or architecture without great patrons."
Edwin Lutyens
The British architect was born on March 29, 1869
