Mr. President, address corruption at the state of the nation

Kenya, East Africa’s economic powerhouse is fastly becoming the continent’s newest ‘lootocracy’. Kenya's rampant corruption is eating away at the very fabric of democracy.

Needless to say, President Uhuru Kenyatta’s regime has allowed graft to flourish in Kenya, leaving key governance institutions such as the judiciary and civil service hollowed out.  Indeed, corruption has become the most talked about malaise in the country, with weekly headlines about new scandals.

Apostles of the high priestess of corruption are suffocating Kenya’s economy into a furnace of hades. In fact, the scheme of corruption in jubilee government is so elaborate, so thick and so reckless that Kenyans are losing confidence with the ruling government.  

Billions of Kenyan shillings that seem to be lost through calculated methods by Uhuru’s “loyal” troops are seriously worrying Kenyans. From Eurobond, LAPSSET, NYS, and SGR to Youth Fund saga-the ghost of monies is hurting our economy.

The fund officials have embezzled about Sh1.5 billion through fictitious ‘tenderpreneuring’ and, sometimes, open theft. Conspiracy fraud theory is the in-thing. Corruption is a cancer mutating extremely fast in Kenya and this needs to be stopped immediately. The president needs to disband those firms and offices that have been marred by corruption and those found culpable of gluttonous stomach and corruption genes must face the full course of the law.

The regime of President Uhuru Kenyatta has allowed the most permissive environment for corruption in Kenya’s history. More eating is being done than at any time since we started trying to measure graft in the 1990s. Corruption in Kenya is pervasive and entrenched. Kenya is ranked among the world's most corrupt countries.

The 2013 Ibrahim Index of African Governance ranked Kenya 21 out of 52 countries on quality of governance, an improvement of four places from 2012. Transparency International’s 2013 Global Corruption Perception Index ranks Kenya 136 out of 177 countries, a marginal increase from 139 of 176 in 2012. Kenya still ranks third among the five EAC countries, better than Burundi and Uganda. The Corruption Perceptions Index measures the perceived levels of public sector corruption in countries worldwide. Lack of political will, little progress in prosecuting past corruption cases, and the slow pace of reform in key sectors were reasons cited why Kenya is still ranked amongst the 31 lowest-scoring countries.

The only way the Jubilee government can convince Kenyans it is genuine in its anti-corruption drive on this mega corruption scandals is only though Uhuru’s bold step of heeding the advice to appoint an independent international audit firm. This firm will look into transactions and accounts. The firm ought to look into tender procurement and payments since April 2013 and assign responsibility. The firm must be instructed to follow the money trail and unearth the real beneficiaries of these payments. The report should then be made public and submitted simultaneously to the President and Parliament. This is the only way forward

Dr. Njenga, Solomon, Ph.D

Dean – School of Governance, Peace and Security

Africa Nazarene University, Kenya