The battle against corruption recently received an extra boost of support with the soon to be approved Lifestyle Audit Bill.
Seeking to make the wealth of public officials as transparent as possible to the citizens, this bill is integral for our war on graft.
Although public officials today must publicly report their personal wealth every two years, getting a hold of the information is complex. Access to relevant information is also only allowed if it is identified as serving the public interest.
This bill will change that process drastically, making the information easily available to anyone interested. It will also be maintained through a public database overseen by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC).
Although Sponsored by Senator Farhiya Ali Haji, the measures in question have been pushed for by President Uhuru Kenyatta throughout the past year. This was as a result of a host of uncovered government corruption scandals, with the highest profile being ex-Treasury CS Henry Rotich.
Leading by example, President Kenyatta offered to be the first to undergo such an audit.
This move has reaffirmed what the President has been pushing since he began his anti-corruption campaign, namely that defeating it is a commitment that must cross party divide.
Lifestyle audits are a manifestation of some of the most important parts of our Constitution and national values. These emphasize integrity, transparency, and accountability. Similarly, important values are freedom of information and a commitment to public service.
We should be proud to live in a country where these ideas are valued above all else.
The strong nature of our democracy is also evident through the audit being conducted internally and not with the help of foreign firms as is usually the case. We should not take this for granted, as not every country is capable of doing this.
Corruption is not just directly stealing cash from the country’s coffers. It happens in a wide variety of creative ways.
The recent replacement of the Sh1,000 notes was one of the subtler moves to fight those who steal from the people.
Other more direct moves have sought to target backdoor deal makers. This includes vetting the heads of procurement and accounting units and requiring all government entities and publicly owned institutions to publish full details of tenders issued.
The battle against corruption is a prolonged one, one that is not won overnight and one which requires effectively pre-empting those that seek to harm our nation’s future.
There are of course those that have expressed scepticism around Kenya’s fight against corruption, noting that while he claims to be fighting it, few convictions have followed. Considering our leaders’ track record on fighting corruption, few can begrudge this scepticism.
Yet we must remember that in a democratic country, the judicial process takes time. Criminals also have a right to due process.
Had President Kenyatta not been serious about this tough and complex issue, he would have never engaged in it in the first place, with only three years remaining in his final term.
The importance of defeating corruption in all its forms cannot be over-emphasised. Estimated to eat up approximately a third of our nation’s budget, money stolen from taxpayers could be used to build schools, improve access to healthcare and keep our families safe.
