Fighting the Monster Called Corruption

A lot has been said about corruption. The vice has been identified as one of the major contributors of the sluggish economic growth in Kenya. We have had numerous agencies created as agents of fighting corruption but the question is, do these fighters of corruption know what it is they’re really fighting?

Corruption has been labelled with numerous names. Some have called it a monster and they have, therefore, armed themselves in fighting the monster without putting in mind that whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. What has been happening is that those mandated with the task of fighting the monster, corruption, have ended up being the monster itself.

The notion about the existence of corruption has been within the society since time immemorial to the extent that the term has been deeply rooted in our hearts long enough to the point that we think it is normal and, therefore, perfecting the art of rejecting any evidence of the existence of the same. People are no longer interested in finding out the truth. Corruption has captured us. It is hard and painful for the society and the nation at large to acknowledge, even to ourselves in the inner comfort zones, that we have been taken by corruption.

And so, what is corruption? In simple terms, corruption is the abuse of the entrusted power for one’s own private gain and it can be classified as grand or major corruption, petty corruption as well as political corruption depending on the amounts of money lost and the sector where the vice occurs. We have always classified the weight of corruption in terms of money and forgetting the fact of those who demand some favors like sexual in order to deliver any service, which they ought to deliver freely to the public.

Grand corruption comprises of the acts committed at a high level of gover5nment that distort policies or the central function of the state, enabling leaders to benefit at the expense of the public good. Have you ever heard of the Goldenberg scandal, the NYS saga, the loss of CDF funds and so on? Those are what we call grand corruption vices that are too common in the country with public funds being stolen in millions putting in mind the definition that corruption is the misuse of the entrusted power either by heritage, education, marriage, election, appointment or whatever else for private gain.

Petty corruption refers to that every day’s abuse of entrusted power by low as well as mid-level public servants in their interactions with the ordinary citizens who often are trying to access basic goods or services in places like hospitals, schools, police departments and other agencies, a phenomenon that is well known and widely practiced in the country. In this country today, one is either giving a bribe or receiving a bribe in order for a certain service, which he or she is mandated constitutionally to either deliver it or access it freely.

There is what we call political corruption one that which many Kenyans are not aware of and this includes the manipulation of the policies and the rules of the procedure in the allocation of the resources as well as the financing by political decision makers who abuse their positions in an effort to sustain their power, the status quo and wealth.

According to Corruptie.org, Corruption is also decay in the decision-making process in which a decision-maker consents to deviate or demands deviation from the criterion which should rule his or her decision-making, in exchange for a reward or for the promise or expectation of a reward, while these motives influencing his or her decision-making cannot be part of the justification of the decision.

That is corruption and that is what is killing us.