We need a paradigm shift in the war against corruption

Generally, a lot has been said on corruption in our country.

If you ask those currently in Government, they would defend themselves that much has been done in curbing the vice. But still, ordinary Kenyans feel that ours is a bandit economy.

Public funds are stolen at both the county and national level. The latest corruption scandal has emanated from Afya House; a place christened “Mafya house”, owing to its notoriety for corruption. Some Sh3 billion has reportedly not been accounted for in the Ministry of Health.

The startling revelation comes hot on the heels of the Governance and Accountability summit at State House, Nairobi, whereby blame games were evident among the people who are saddled with the sacred duties of slaying the dragon of corruption.

President Uhuru Kenyatta asked those in attendance what else people wanted him to do given that he had tried his best by facilitating the relevant agencies and had even sacked those officers in his Government who were mentioned in various scams. Create a firing squad, he posed?

Whether that would be a solution is a matter of public debate. But I would urge the Government to focus on the quality of cases, not quantity.

It would be useless to brag about efforts and figures that have not been conclusively managed. The day a corruption case, especially the mega ones, leads the perpetrators to jail where they rightfully belong is the day Kenyans will believe that the Government, through its criminal Justice system, is up and running.

Conversely, what the ordinary folks in the streets are presently witnessing is a merry-go-round of cases involving top officials. One day they are portrayed as suspects, the next day they are whistleblowers, and the day after you hear they have been converted into witnesses. And as you wonder what would come out of them, you are greeted by another overwhelming news on a heist scandal. And the rate is damn depressing!

Every year we lose a third of the allocations in our national budget through dubious means. That is approximately Sh600 billion annual drain. How many social and economic transformation programmes would have been realised if such large amounts of money would have been prudently spent on the intended projects?

Even kitties for special interest groups such as the youth have not been spared. Projects such as the Youth Enterprise Development Fund and the National Youth Service (NYS) have as well fallen victim to huge pilferage.

When you look at the recent scandals at NYS and Afya House, the Integrated Financial Management Information System that was supposed to deal with pilferage is instead being used to loot.

This misdemeanour lends credence to the fact that moral corruption precedes economic corruption.

Public service in Kenya has been drastically changed, from what it was meant to be, into a vehicle for self aggrandisement and instant richness.

It is painful to see the gap between the rich and the poor expanding by the day yet those who are supposed to bridge it are busy frustrating that plan through theft of public funds.

The President should not sound helpless on corruption when his friends and neighbours like Tanzanian President John Magufuli, together with his Rwandan and Nigerian counterparts have shown that it is possible to succeed.