A business owner in most parts of the country is still fearful whenever they see a local government official approaching their premises, whether they have the requisite licenses or not. A bar owner in every part of Nairobi still budgets for the police every month, and their workers are always ready with the hundred shillings note waiting for the officers’ vehicle to drop by several times a day and pick.
Every driver in the city of Nairobi always has some money in cash in the car every time they venture out ready to dish it out to the traffic police officer on their way. Kenyans have been conditioned to pay police officers and local government workers like it is their duty. And this is different from giving bribes for a service they rightly deserve!
And to most Kenyans, it is normal. It has been the norm for all the time we have been a republic. And that is tragic.
But there is hope, luckily.
Other than he rhetoric we have heard from successive national leaders about the intent and purpose to fight corruption- for the above is corruption- there seems to be a real anti-corruption strategy being implemented currently. It is top-bottom but it is surely there.
For the first time in the history of the nation we have witnessed an elected public office holder losing his seat because of allegations of corruption. It might have passed of a mere county replacing leadership but the ouster of Kiambu Governor Ferdinand Waititu from officer was a significant historical event for the country and its future. It was a clear sign that the country’s mindset is changing for the better. It is a resolve from the leadership to create an enabling environment for due process to be followed. It is a clear indication that time has come for the natural cause and effect order to succeed, in a shorter time.
Though Waititu’s fate is the first to be successfully concluded, every indication is that it will not be the only one in a short while. In fact, so many others are bound to follow sooner than the country can hope for. It is panic at the Governors’ Club, and rightly so.
Governor Mike Mbuvi Sonko of Nairobi is fighting for survival as the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) pursues him for allegedly embezzling public money and failing to deliver services Nairobians deserve. In the meantime, members of the city’s County Assembly are working on a legislative action plan to have him join his Kiambu counterpart and onetime close political ally in the cold.
Elsewhere in further North, Samburu Governor Moses Lenolkulal is hanging by the skin as he battles his own corruption related court case that has all the ingredients of not only pushing him out of power but also have him jailed and dispossessed of the property he acquired illegally.
In the Western end of the country, Busia Governor Sospeter Ojaamong is not resting easy either. EACC is breathing down his neck as it pursues an active case in court that involves the millions he has, allegedly, stolen from the poverty-stricken service-deprived people of the county. He will be lucky to survive the remaining years of his final term as governor.
At the national level, things are not calm.
As we speak, a former Cabinet Secretary is cooling his hills in the cold waiting for the conclusion of his graft related case. Former Finance Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich was hounded out of his corner office at Treasury one morning a few months ago and flogged to the police and court for allegedly stealing money meant for one dam or another. He has since been replaced in Cabinet.
Earlier on, a few Principal Secretaries and other senior officers below them had been declared jobless and dragged to court for engaging in businesses that smell corruption. One of them is former Public Service and Youth principal secretary Lillian Mbogo Omollo who is facing charges related to the infamous National Youth Service’s missing billions. The other is former Agriculture PS Richard Lesiyampe who is being prosecuted over the irregular purchase of maize by National Cereals and Produce Board that cost the taxpayer over Sh2 billion!
With the fore mentioned examples, it is clear that the war on corruption is holding no prisoners, literally. President Uhuru Kenyatta is clearly walking his talk in the declared fight against the vice that has killed many Kenyans, denied them opportunities and maimed others.
And the world is noticing.
The President, and his handshake partner Raila Odinga are currently addressing the world on how political unity and resolve can be used to fight corruption, successfully. This is one of the areas the two leaders are presenting on during the ongoing National Prayer Breakfast in the United States of America! Who could have ever imagined, a few years ago, that a sitting Kenyan President would preach the anti-corruption gospel to the world?
As we mourn the death of the country’s second President, Kenyans may want to consider looking back, to the time we became a republic, and just decide if they want to move on with business as usual.
Meanwhile, as the President weeds the top of corrupt elements, the county employee stealing from the kiosk owner in Ugunja, and the police constable taking the hundred shillings daily from the bar owner in Umoja had better prepare themselves for the repercussions of their sins.
Trust me, it won’t be long.
