Corruption dents our country’s image

Kenya’s current efforts to stamp out corruption are narrow in focus. The preoccupation is with the numbers. “How much was lost in this scandal?”

Important as the question of numbers is, it completely ignores the fact that Kenya loses more than just money - it loses its image and reputation.

National development cannot be achieved in isolation of the international community. The world has become closely connected and more competitive; making image and reputation more important than before.

For an emerging economy like Kenya, there is a lot of economic activity and resultant business opportunities that cannot be articulated in standard reports. Business and political leaders have to therefore be proactive.

They have to go out there and market the country, like a door to door salesman would. But that becomes hard if everyone has the perception that it is egregiously corrupt. Imagine how hard it is to convince investors that the law in Kenya can protect them when the international media is awash with reports even the Supreme Court in Kenya is corrupt.

International perceptions about Kenya’s runaway graft and money-driven politics are making it increasingly difficult for Kenya to compete with other countries.

They make Kenya seem risky, denying the country investment and making it very expensive to borrow internationally.

In essence, corruption is actively isolating Kenya from the international community. Perceptions about Kenya need to change. Traditionally, governments in Africa have procured the services of public relations and lobbying firms to burnish their international images, which are often tarnished by corruption, avarice and endemic crony capitalism.

But PR tactics, no matter how efficacious, are acutely limited in their nature. While they do temporarily alter perceptions, they never actually change the facts on the ground. Thus, rather than focusing on ‘putting out the right message’ to the world, we should put all our energy in changing the situation on the ground through concrete actions. Corrupt people need to go to jail.

It would be a great injustice to attempt to measure in words or even numbers what corruption has done to this country. The agonising plight of thousands of jobless youth, often sidelined not by capitalism, which creates jobs, but by the sheer greed of a few, cannot be expressed in words or numbers. It only finds expression in the crushed hearts and spirits of mothers and fathers who have to watch their disillusioned children spiral into crime, drugs and radicalisation.

A vice such as corruption, which destroys the very soul of the nation, needs a commensurate punishment. Prolonged prison time and seizure of all assets is a good starting point, though still not proportionate.

This notwithstanding, prison time for corrupt people, especially the bigwigs, will undoubtedly change local and international perceptions about Kenya.

Instilling the fear of corruption is only a first, though necessary, step. Eventually, we need to also communicate the benefits of virtue in governance and business. This is especially important at this present moment when 47 percent of Kenyan youth, according to a recent survey, admire people who made their money by hook or crook.

These are not the attitudes we want the future leaders of Kenya to harbor. In concluding, the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KNNCI) has partnered with the Integrity Institute to provide civic education at the county level in order to impress the importance of good governance on the common mwananchi.

To borrow from the wise words of US Vice President Joe Biden, “Fighting corruption is not just good governance. It’s self-defence. It’s patriotism.” Will the real patriotic Kenyans please stand up?