The Fight Against Corruption in Kenya is Our Responsibility

People say that Kenya is a nation of plunder and blunder, that it is a nation of plunder in terms of money and blunder in terms of corruption.

The widespread corruption has become the order of the day and the economy is feeling the heat and the institutions mandated to fight the vice seem to be helpless.

On Wednesday, the National Council of Churches (NCC) called on President Uhuru Kenyatta to do away with Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission which they said that it had become part of the corrupt system.

The opposition, Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) has been vocal blaming the Jubilee Administration for the ongoing runaway corruption activities.

It is said that Kenya loses more than 50 percent of its budget on corruption often affecting the developmental projects that the funds are intended for.

The counties are proving to be the most corrupt of the three arms of government. People at the county level are looting public funds as though the lives depend on it. It is all about looting as though there is no tomorrow. In Nairobi for instance, according to the Auditor General, more than 20 billion shillings are unaccounted for while in Kakamega County, more than two billion shillings meant for developments are unaccounted for. The trend goes on in Kilifi, Kitui, Machakos, Bomet, Kirinyaga and in many other counties.

Kenyans have become bitter. They feel that politicians are stealing from them. They feel that the authority is doing nothing to prevent the ongoing corruption. The fight against corruption has now become a blame game; the opposition blames the government; the government blames the institutions and the opposition and the people blame both the government and the opposition.

According to Mr. Nahashon Tsuma, a high school teacher and also a cleric, the problem ailing the country is not really corruption but moral decay. He says that Kenyan are morally ill but they do not want to accept it.

“Jesus once told some men that ‘if you know that you have never sinned, be the first to cast the first stone.’ Kenyans are always quick at throwing stones of blame at others without having to think of the genesis of the real problem,” he said.

Mr. Tsuma believes that majority of Kenyans are partly to blame for the rampant corruption in the country. “Corruption goes on at all levels, even in our homes and we have made it a culture; a day to day life. We teach our children to be corrupt at a very tender age. Something like giving your child a small gift before sending them for an errand is corruption and people think it is love and care,” he added.

This week, the commission mandated with the responsibility of making sure that the National Police acts within its limits and discipline, IPOA, fired more than 100 traffic police officers on grounds of corruption allegations but Mr. Tsuma is of the different opinion.

“Kenyans are the ones who give bribes to these officers. They don’t want to renew their driving licenses, they drive with expired insurances, break traffic laws and when they are arrested, they tempt the officer with money. Some force the officers to accept you know!” He said.

Being a cleric, he accepts that the church has terribly failed in helping the fight against corruption. “churches have become money oriented and every now and then, they are carrying out harambees and guess who comes with the hefty amount of money; a corrupt politician. When a politician donates more than six million shillings in your church and you cheer him up and later blame “politicians” for corruption is hypocrisy of the highest order!’ He said.

Francis Wachira, a journalist, a peer counselor and an anti-corruption crusader says that the time has come for Kenyans to stop blaming the politicians and look at themselves fast.

“It is not about what the government is doing in the fight against corruption, it is about what Kenyans are doing in the fight against corruption. It is time for Kenyans to ask themselves what they can do to fight corruption other than just sitting back, cultivating the vice and then complaining forever. What we need is discipline. Kenyans are indiscipline and they pass the same indiscipline to their children. The society is corrupt and as long as our moral is corrupt, the fight against corruption is a futile fight,” he said.