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President Uhuru Kenyatta has once again read the riot act to public officers and expressed his resolve to fight corruption, which is the single most frightening threat to the country’s national growth.
He expressly asked politicians to keep off the war on graft and let the relevant agencies do their work.
Concomitantly, he directed that public officers — including those in county governments — accused of corruption or misappropriation of resources be investigated, prosecuted and punished.
Since last week, and following fresh revelations of suspected major scandals in construction of dams, especially in the Rift Valley, a clique of politicians has taken to intimidating and insulting investigative agencies with the sinister objective of derailing their inquiries.
The media, which have played a pivotal role in exposing the rot, have been vilified and demonised in equal measure.
So vicious have been the attacks that they border on personal threats to the Director of Criminal Investigations, Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission and Director of Public Prosecutions.
Added to that is propaganda and misleading messaging intended to downplay the scale of the suspected fraud.
What is particularly upsetting is that those leading the tirade are senior politicians in the ruling Jubilee Party, a clear indication that the government is divided down the middle in what is essentially an existential battle.
That is not acceptable and, as we have stated before, politicians should not hold the country to ransom.
Corruption and its networks must be destroyed at all costs. Which is why President Kenyatta’s renewed call is vital as it reinforces the conviction and commitment to ending the vice.
Those who steal from the public do not do so at the behest of their communities, parties or regions.
So, when an individual is suspected of corruption, fraud or misuse of public resources, the individual must face his or her fate alone.
Members of a community should not gang up and threaten those pursuing suspected wrongdoers just because he or she is one of their own.
Such perverted reasoning is the major cause of paralysis in the purge against those who swindle the public or abuse their offices.
By all accounts, Kenya is not a poor country. It has enormous resources and human capital to spur growth.
The challenge, however, is misuse of public resources by those in authority, who always get away with their indiscretions.
So far, top government officials have been grilled over the contentious dam construction deals. Investigators must get to the depth of the matter and assemble concrete evidence to prosecute the suspected fraudsters.
Those meddlesome politicians must keep away and let the law takes its course.
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