How to administer medicine for our society’s ills

President Uhuru Kenyatta has taken a lot of bold steps since beginning his war on corruption. Uhuru has ended the careers of those who were deemed too soft for the tough fight against corruption  and theft in official echelons.

Those who made his vow to take on the lords of corruption and impunity sound like a broken record.

The arrest of high-ranking officials that has accentuated the no-nonsense approach to the matter has seemingly restored lost hope in the public.

Admittedly, it will take more than that to rid our society of the evil that denies all Kenyans a fair shot st life.

However, probably President Kenyatta’s most brave move was his July 20 directive that all new government projects be put on hold until the old (running) ones are completed.

It is clear that the drastic, but necessary move was aimed at enhancing accountability and prudent management of public resources in line with the spirited war against graft.

Dismantling the cartels

This is aimed at dismantling the cartels that have used ongoing projects as cash cows to feather their nests. Because for as long as some projects were running, unexplained expenses were incurred that usually went unaccounted.

Think about Anglo Leasing scandals and the budget lines that would have gone unnoticed were it not for the sharp eyes of a diligent civil servant.

The directive hits at the heart of the matter. The crooked in our civil service bureaucracy is legendary. And although a tough measure, sometimes one must take drastic action when dealing with such an overwhelming challenge.

Just as one who wants to become more healthy they must first stop their bad habits and free the body of all toxins before they begin a new regime, a government needs to halt and check all current practices before moving forward under a more clean and healthy regime.

It should now be clear to all Kenyans that there is a lot of sickness in our political, governmental and bureaucratic systems, with very few parts free of the sins of graft and corruption.

In addition, this directive is aimed at stopping wastage of resources and the habit of government agencies abandoning incomplete projects and jumping onto others. This is also a form of corruption, because it abuses the public’s trust and money.

While we have witnessed the Director of Public Prosecution Noordin Haji release summonses, investigation or arrest warrants, there are countless smaller acts of theft taking part every day.

The system needs to be thus cleansed of every act of theft from the public whether small or large, and the only way to do this is to undertake an overall audit of all ongoing government projects before declaring a clean bill of health.

President Kenyatta’s act was also meant to introduce a new way of doing things and to ensure that government officials who want to move more projects forward have to adhere to the new way of doing things.

Desired outcome

It will now be in the interest of all those who seek to continue in their position to clean up their own backyards before moving ahead. It is not just a brave move, but a clever one and will hopefully have the desired outcome, which is a far cleaner system from top to bottom across the country at all levels.

Alongside the new directive, President Kenyatta announced that the Government will soon launch a new internet portal where all procurement and tenders will be published.

All procurement, tenders and contracts will be advertised on the portal to create transparency in order to safeguard public resources from theft and most importantly, create fairness in terms of access.

This means that all government projects will now have the added layer of oversight from the public and make it harder for government officials or any of their associates to get involved in corruption, theft, wastage or mismanagement.

With these new actions, President Kenyatta is returning the power to the people. He is ensuring that every single shilling taken from the public purse will be put to good use and will go where it was intended.

Giant leap forward

While some may be annoyed by these steps, it is clear that this is just one small step backwards to take a giant leap forward and no one should begrudge the president for making the fight against corruption his main agenda of administering such an important step.

Those who have foresight and wish Kenya the best will welcome this bold move as President Kenyatta administers a relatively painful medicine for our society’s full recovery.

Mr Maore is the Member of Parliament for Igembe North constituency