A major reason why graft is difficult to stop in Kenya is that we see it as a policy or legal problem. But if graft is a disease, it is a moral one. We enact laws and, like Pygmalion of Greek mythology, gaze at them, hoping they would turn into a beautiful woman in the form of a corruption-free, paradisiacal social order.
But legal statutes have little impact in an economy of greed!
Treating laws as the end, rather than one of the means towards a better society, is a mistake. Institutions are the hardware. Values are the software, a radar without which we become ships without captains in uncharted waters.
Corruption is worse than bad laws since it is a moral problem, pertaining to what is good or bad. Laws are about social regulation. Animals also have rules, “jungle laws”; morals distinguish humans from them. We have one of the best constitutions in Africa, good anti-corruption policies and solid governing mechanisms. Yet, Kenya is one of the most corrupt countries in the world!
Attempts at using rules to regulate behaviour have failed before. The “Michuki rules” depended on the charm of the well-meaning minister. Road discipline prevailed so long as Mr Michuki was in charge. After he left, everything fell into default mode: Chaos.
If President Kenyatta wants to leave the country cured of graft, he must transform his anti-graft war into a cultural revolution of sorts — a radical reorientation of the cultural system. It could be long and bloody and its champions could end up being victims.
The French Revolution is an epic historical fight against corrupt leaders. Maximillian Robespierre, who championed the execution of the corrupt, also died at the guillotine, a machine invented to chop off the heads of criminal leaders.
The French public beheadings and arrests quickly turned into high theatre, attracting droves at the Place de la revolution. This included the “Tricoteuses” — a morbid group of women who knitted beside the guillotine as heads rolled.
And Dr Joseph Ignace Guillotine died on the same machine he had invented!
Core anti-corruption values must be ingrained in children, the youth and adults so that, 20 years from now, corruption will be a dirty word. Of course, this must ride on strong institutions.
President Kenyatta and Raila Odinga can use the Building Bridges Initiative and the prevailing public goodwill to start a political and cultural ideology (a system of thinking) that frowns at corruption. A new ideology should be part of the cultural re-engineering.
The President can take a leaf from Lee Kuan Yew, who built Singapore from scratch. Yew would literally hit a freshly tarmacked road with a mattock. If it chipped off, the contractor repeated the job, lost his licence and property, and rotted in prison if corruption was proved.
If in fighting corruption President Kenyatta turns himself into some ‘benevolent dictator’, so be it! Yew built a corruption-free Singapore on strong institutions and was ready to sacrifice friends and relatives for it. Singapore is one of the most prosperous nations.
My fear is that after President Kenyatta leaves office, the anti-corruption war could falter. We need to embed the anti-graft campaign in a system of norms, a moral substrate to guide us collectively and individually. This fight will require more than high-profile prosecutions.
