Corruption is a growth industry; it needs countervailing forces

Members of the civil society demonstrate along Kenyatta Avenue against the ongoing ills going on in the country in our institutions in the country. [Jonah Onyango, Standard]

Corruption thrives when there are no checks and balances or countervailing forces. In the political arena, opposition parties ensure the Government of the day has someone to watch over it.

We all can be corrupt and need constraints. Even those shouting on the streets might surprise us if an opportunity avails itself.

Think of it, corruption reduced after Kanu left power. We then hard a vibrant opposition. Who is now the official leader of the opposition? Some could argue there was no change after Kanu because there were still cases of corruption like Anglo leasing. But the economy and our optimism soared after 2002. Remember it took churches, civil society and international community to countervail Kanu.

Even in simple issues like managing traffic in Kenya, NTSA should have remained on the road to be a countervailing force to the other police. Without NTSA, traffic police or whoever is in charge of traffic now enjoy unfettered freedom to be corrupt.

Did you notice that Central Bank is always replacing Sh50 notes? Can you guess why? And out of curiosity, why do policemen board private cars and matatus? Why not just instruct you to report to police station?

Countervailing forces ensure no one goes to the extreme. A good example, in most Kenyan firms, employers go through performance appraisals which determine their promotion or bonuses. Do they appraise their bosses to serve as a countervailing force?

Do you recall the old Rivalry between USA and USSR, each serving as a countervailing force to the other? The world then seemed more certain and peaceful. When one force left the scene, even the ghosts of the past were let lose in places like the Balkans and Central Asia. Remember the war between Azerbaijan and Armenians?

Today Russia is trying to be become a countervailing force to USA militarily as war in Syria has demonstrated. But on the economic front China is a countervailing force to USA.

Enough digression

Today, our opposition is almost dead and with a handshake, it is even deadier, if such a word exists. Why are we surprised corruption is rising?

The other countervailing forces like the church and civil societies have gone quiet. Some suggest some of their members have found their seats on the high table. With no opposition, the lords of corruption have their day.

Add the simple fact that the Government is mostly a closed shop; you are either in or out. That pattern was quickly replicated in the counties. The “party” in the political party is becoming literary a party. The lack of new entries into governments makes partying easier, unlike in the private sector where diversity is easy to implement with non-Kenyans holding key positions. Such non Kenyans serve as countervailing forces to local Kenyans.

Unfortunately, it’s hard to bring in new people in police or other agencies that need countervailing forces. Moreover, services like police are monopolies. Competition brings discipline. Imagine if NYS was a private company enjoying such publicity.

One could argue that the three arms of the government should compete and check each other. That can be contested in Kenya’s 55-year history.

We have focused too much on higher levels. What of corruption at lower levels? 

One of the contradictions of the Kenyan society is how there is freedom and lack of freedom at the same time. While the media is vibrant, exposing the evils of the society, the rest of the society is run on secrets based on kinship, friendship and tribes. These secrets are the conveyors of corruption. For every big scandal that leaks, there are several others that may never be exposed.

Joblessness makes corruption thrive. Few people would get another job if they lost the current one. That creates a culture of silence. Hear no evil, see no evil. The risk to whistle blowing is too high for most employees.

Forms of crime

The Bill of rights is in our constitution, but few are convinced it will safeguard them. Silence in corruption is more like other forms of crime. In every village and hamlet all thugs are known, but exposing them can be risky, so citizens live in fear, in silence. They fear being exposed to criminals if they reported to the police.

All these forces have conspired to make corruption a thriving industry with hefty returns. Bright minds have also realised it’s easier to make money through corruption than hard work. Recall the tunnel under a bank? Apple Inc made a profit of about Sh2.1 trillion from January to April 2018. That’s our budget. But lots of thinking and hard work went into making that huge profit.

Add the fact that the legal system states you are innocent until proved guilty and it is not hard to see how you can prepare a legal “firewall” as you prepare to be corrupt or as they call it diplomatically, to be smart.

In the course of time, we have made corruption an industry with many stakeholders, each sustaining it because of assured returns and rogue talents in professions like accounting, law, ICT and even PR.

The corruption networks appear more organised and advanced than its countervailing force, the EACC, the police, the judiciary and other key players. After all, in corruption networks, there is free entry and exist.

Very successful or profitable industries attract new entrants to share the profits. The latest entrants into the corruption industry are the youth. Some suggest the youth are being used as distractions, decoys. Could the competition in this industry lead to lower profits and make it unattractive? Does corruption follow the laws of economics?

The current crackdown on corruption is zealous but needs a long lasting solution like putting together all countervailing forces but also reward individuals who go beyond the call of duty to safeguard public property and money. Sadly such right doers rarely grace our headlines.

Information can be secret weapon in fighting corruption. May be IFMIS should be made public so that if I want to know how much a pen was bought in county A or department B, I can. Corruption thrives when information is scarce. If all the cases of corruption were never exposed, it would be business as usual.

But the public should also invest more time in demanding prudent use of their resources. They only do that during elections time by voting out their MCAs, MPs and other reps. What happens in the interlude matters too. If voters are that angry, why have they not recalled any of their reps?

The current approach to fighting corruption is from top to bottom. What of reversing and letting the public take the effort? After all, it’s their money. The top bottom approach is not likely to be effective because the leaders do not always know what happens at the bottom. Their subordinates often distort information often with vested interests.

Ever wondered why Michuki and Matiang’i are so effective? They understand what happens at the bottom, at the grassroots. If you really want to know what’s going on in the country, you might get more reliable and effective information from a taxi driver than a policy analyst (with due respect for scholars).

Once corruption becomes a way of life, it is very hard to uproot. That is why sucking in the youth scares me. Corruption kills national productivity, the key driver of economic growth. Once we learn someone can work for us as we “eat”, we also stop working. With fewer people working, economic growth slows while competition for little produced by the few becomes more intense. Corruption becomes a real threat to national stability. It is no wonder, poor countries tend to be very rich in corruption and unstable.

Corruption can alter the power structure in the country. Ill-gotten wealth can be used by proxies to get political power. We should not forget infiltration of the country by terrorists and carpetbaggers. The country can easily get new owners with citizens remaining cheerleaders. After all, proceeds of corruption are often reinvested driving prices of some goods and services beyond the rich of majority of citizens. One soft spot is real estate.

Innocent Kenyans

It is not hard to make citizens cheerleaders. Just ensure they get a bad education or better make them hate schooling. Teachers can react to the previous sentence. You can use propaganda or get a scapegoat. The dominance of corruption in the news is one easy way to distract citizens from focusing on other goals and make them feel helpless.

Such helplessness is good fodder for anyone with political ambitions. It bad for the economy, it gnaws on innovation and makes consumerism the norm.

No one can doubt that the momentum to fight corruption must be maintained. Justice must be our shield as we fight corruption. We should however not victimise innocent Kenyans doing innocent business or doing their work to make the public happy.

In whispers, I was interviewed for the PS job the same day with Lillian Mbogo Omollo. What else are you waiting to hear from me?

We need to fight corruption like building the tunnel below the English Channel with British and French each starting on their side. The leaders start on one side while the public start from the other. The public after all bears the highest cost of corruption.

Who takes pride in being labelled a citizen of “nchi ya kitu kidogo“to quote Eric Wainaina.

—The writer teaches at the University of Nairobi.  

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