Let's embrace amnesty, plea bargaining in war against rampant graft

Nakuru residents held anti-corruption demo against the government in Nakuru town on May 31, 2018. [Photo: Kennedy Gachuhi, Standard]

Guns kill. Is that not obvious? There have been 27,304 incidences of gun violence in the USA in 2018.

There have been 141 mass shootings. Of these, 23 incidents have been in schools. And 6,720 people have been killed, an average of 1,160 per month.

Three hundred and twelve children below 11 years have died. At least 1,288 teenagers have died, some of them while in school and 12,840 people have been injured in 6 months, an average of 2,070 people per month. 

Guns kill. However, the Americans are so attached to their guns and will not easily give up their arsenal.

What will it take for them to realise and accept that their constitutional right to bear arms has evolved into a flesh and soul consuming cancer?

Corruption in Kenya

Back in Kenya, corruption kills. Is that not obvious? Copper, mercury and lead in sugar make for good metallic jokes on social media.

However, the reality is that they come bearing the gift of death and the curse of financial ruin for individual and community health.

What will it take for Kenya and Kenyans to give up corruption?

Like guns in the USA, nothing short of a social revolution. 

Acting with Honesty

This fight cannot be fought and won by the President alone. Integrity means doing the right thing even when no one else is around.

It is acting with honesty consistently in whatever it is you are doing. If you have no integrity you are corrupt.

Whether it is in using the plastic bags that were banned, or driving on the wrong side of the road. You are as corrupt as NYS looters when you jump a queue.

The difference is only a matter of degree. If social positions were changed you would probably loot as much if not more.

As Mohamed Guleid recently wrote in The Standard, given the opportunity, most Kenyans are likely to defraud the public. We believe corruption is in our DNA. 

Kipkoech Tanui, also writing for The Standard, advised the President that corruption will take nothing else than a complete turnaround of the Kenyan mindset.

He suggests that the President first clears his breakfast table and defrocks his high priests.

You cannot cure cancer by taking Panadol. However, you can prevent it by avoiding Kenya’s metal laden sugar.

Like Panadol pitted against cancer, the EACC, the DPP and the Judiciary join the bandwagon of the fight against corruption when it is too late. 

Investigations and prosecutions of corruption will not stop corruption. Lifestyle audits will not stop corruption. Suspension of procurement officers will not stop corruption. 

Americans psychologically feel safer with guns in their homes, cars and waistbands.  Yet, the whole world knows they are not safe. Their guns make their society less safe.

Back in Kenya, corruption is our warm blanket. Our safety-net. It makes each of us feel better about ourselves and our lives as it slowly consumes us.

The best point to stop corruption is before it happens.

In our homes, in our hearts, in our minds. By re-engineering and resetting each of our mindsets and our values. 

The National Council of Churches of Kenya Secretary General Peter Karanja, who suggested a one year amnesty for corrupt public officials, understands this fundamental truth.

This approach allows each Kenyan a period of soul searching, self-reflection and self-correction.

Prosecution of corruption in Kenya rarely leads to recovery of stolen public funds. Amnesty can achieve this rare feat.

The President, the EACC, and the DPP can take advantage of the under-utilized sections of the Criminal Procedure Code that allow for plea bargaining to offer such amnesty.

For example, instead of prosecuting 46 NYS suspects, the President, the DPP and EACC can offer amnesty, witness protection and redemption for those who are willing to return their ill-gotten wealth and turn into key prosecution witnesses against the few masterminds. 

- The writer is an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya. [email protected]