Corruption: MPs must be objective in debate

The list of individuals handed over to the Speakers of Parliament by President Uhuru Kenyatta during his State of the Nation address last week has drawn mixed reactions from different quarters.

And it is ironical that the people who never failed to take the chance at the slightest opportunity to lambaste the President over runaway corruption in his Government are now crying foul; the clearest indicator of the fact that they were merely engaging in populist politics, but lacked the will to see corruption decisively tackled.

Governors and MPs have maintained that the President has no powers to remove them from office. The Opposition sees the list as a ploy to weaken them.

Some parliamentarians have seen an opportunity to settle old scores and will not miss the chance. One side of the ruling coalition also sees the list as an attempt to weaken and elbow it out of Government.

What this comes down to is that objectivity might be thrown out of the window as Parliament begins debate on the list today. Unfortunately, Members of Parliament have already split themselves into groups to champion their own interests.

That is not good because it distorts the bigger picture, which is to fight graft.

There is every possibility that the tyranny of numbers will not hold sway this time round, but we advocate for objectivity during debate.

There should be no room for the scenes witnessed in December during deliberations on the Security Laws Amendment Bill 2014.

Blaming the President for targeting the Opposition is not only dishonest, it is defeatist. None of the Cabinet Secretaries and Principal Secretaries who have been adversely mentioned openly subscribe to any political ideology or party.

Mark you, Mr Kenyatta did not draw up the list from either State House or his Harambee House offices; the list was drawn up by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, an independent constitutional body.

The President simply honoured his side of the bargain and should be spared some slack. The MPs owe it to the country and to themselves to engage in a healthy debate devoid of the usual shenanigans of partisanship and populism.