Corruption, what would Jesus do?

“Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves.

 “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’[a] but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.”

Who can forget the eternal words of Matthew 21:12-13: The moment when Jesus overturned the status quo? The moment when his own war against corruption was announced, forcefully and for all to see?

Today, we have our own battle being waged against corruption.The president and his team are overturning tables, left right and centre. The new campaign is making headlines around the world.

Corruption though, stretches back to the beginning of time. Genesis 6:12 notes that, “God observed all this corruption in the world, for everyone on earth was corrupt.”

Isaiah 1:4, teaches, “Woe to the sinful nation, a people whose guilt is great, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption! They have forsaken the LORD; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him.”

The biblical teachings provide ample moral and divine support for Uhuru’s current campaign. Both the old and new testaments are full of prophetic visions of the corrupt nature of mankind and the societies they will create.

2 Timothy 3:1-5, is just one strong example: “You must realize, however, that in the last days difficult times will come. 

Its power

People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, unfeeling, uncooperative, slanderous, degenerate, brutal, hateful of what is good, traitors, reckless, conceited, and lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.

They will hold to an outward form of godliness but deny its power. Stay away from such people.”

He could almost be describing modern day Kenya. The materialism, narcissism, the lack of respect, and the enrichment at all costs.

The new measures to tackle graft will not change a society overnight, but they are a good start. Our leaders have been afraid to ruffle the feathers for too long. But not anymore.

President Kenyatta, through his handshake of brotherly love with his political nemesis, opposition leader Raila Odinga, appears to be willing to turn over those proverbial tables.

Uhuru has empowered relevant authorities to arrest those against whom evidence enables charges.  Irrespective of rank or position, the mandate is clear; if they broke the rules, arrest them.

Senior officials from Kenya Power are joined by governors in court. Areas of Kenyan life that we previously thought were sacrosanct are now open to scrutiny for misbehaviour and graft.

Ingrained corruption

These arrests and the various lifestyle audits, however, are merely the opening shots in the battle for the very soul of our nation. 

Our soul has been darkened by decades of ingrained corruption. We all must now join hands in the spirit of Uhuru and Raila; in the spirit of brotherhood, and take a new path of morality.

We do not have to write a new thesis or a new guide book. It has been laid out before us for generations, for thousands of years.

Ecclesiastes 5:8 could not be clearer on this matter, “If you see the extortion of the poor, or the perversion of justice and fairness in the government, do not be astonished by the matter. 

For the high official is watched by a higher official, and there are higher ones over them!”

The message therefore is patent: Nobody is above the law. When buildings are built on illegal wetlands, tear down the building!

When Governors pocket money from tenders and mega projects, arrest the Governor!  When companies and government ministries use fake receipts, or shell companies for illegitimate, illegal or non-existent contracts, get them all!

When Jesus went into the temple to overthrow the status quo, it was not popular. 

In fact, he was pursued, he was oppressed, and he was eventually killed for trying to do the right thing. 

However, his support from the masses, and the new path he laid, brought a new religion to the world, a new way of doing things.

Kenya too stands at the dawn of a new horizon whereby the way of doing things is about to change dramatically. 

We do not have to reinvent the wheel; we just have to ask, “What Would Jesus Do?”

Ms Munuhe studies International Relations at the University of Nairobi