‘Matatu’ has always had a negative connotation in Kenya but its use by President William Ruto as part of his fight against corruption has led to praise and concerns. Matatu here is in reference to the President’s three-point-threat to corrupt people—leave the country, go to jail, or go to heaven. The latter is what got many human rights defenders riled up. It could easily be misinterpreted to mean death. It is a valid concern in a country such as Kenya where extrajudicial killings have been normalised. In his defence, I don’t think the President meant that but perhaps he was telling corrupt people the only place he couldn’t reach them is heaven.
The President’s threats and comments by nearly all politicians on how to deal with corruption have so far been just plain talk. We have heard it all before with little action to match these threats. Corruption is rife within Kenya’s political sphere. It is the one thing that inspires many Kenyans to try their hand at politics.
Public service is a foreign term to most of the so called “people’s representatives”. Expecting politicians to bite the hand that feeds them, aka government, is expecting too much. Politicians cannot be trusted to end corruption. That is akin to turning off the only air valve they have.
The responsibility of ending corruption is with the criminal justice system, specifically the Office of Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) and the Judiciary. But they cannot either, because, despite their protestations, they are in bed with the political class. If they weren’t they wouldn’t so heavily rely on Article 157 of the Constitution to withdraw cases touching on politicians with gusto.
Political will
The problem we have, much more than lack of political will is with Article 157 itself. It has been open to abuse by the ODPP, and it must be expunged from our constitution.
Article 157(c) states that the ODPP can “discontinue at any stage before judgment is delivered any criminal proceedings ” it has instituted or taken over. These few lines have given the big fish of corruption in Kenya blanket protection from prosecution. We stopped counting how many politicians, despite overwhelming evidence, are walking free when it comes to corruption because of the abuse by the ODPP of Article 157.
ODPP has one task, to present to court watertight cases prior to the start of any criminal matter. They are failing at the only task they are legally mandated to do. Instead, they have become prosecutors and judges keen on freeing senior government officials charged with corruption.
Withdrawal of cases once proceedings have started costs taxpayers huge amounts of money and wastes courts’ time. These are facts that ought to be at the fingertips of the ODPP. Any other individual or private entity behaving in this manner would be prosecuted, why is ODPP above the law when they are clearly abusing the constitution in favour of corrupt and murderous people?
Public money doesn’t just walk and jump into the pockets of corrupt officials. Someone must have facilitated the theft and bloated their bank accounts with stolen money. If no one is prosecuted for theft of public funds, how would the money ever be recovered? Most importantly, would there ever be deterrence? Clearly not. We have seen how public funds disappear quickly at the hands of recently elected politicians and those appointed to higher offices.
Corruption is not something that will end on its own and politicians are the last people to end it as purveyors of corruption. ODPP and the Judiciary must grow a spine and use the constitution wisely and punish corrupt people without favour.
Kenya needs retrospection on Article 157 that allows ODPP to withdraw cases on corruption and other serious crimes concerning senior government officials willy-nilly. There is clear abuse of power by the office in this regard. It is time to repeal the article because it is not doing what it was intended to do: protect the rule of law. It has become corrupted itself and offers no benefit to the taxpayers who are being swindled left, right and centre by senior public servants and politicians.
It is too much to ask of Parliament, whose members are implicated in corruption time and again, but the ball is in their court to repeal Article 157. It serves no purpose but to frustrate anti-corruption efforts.
Roadside anti-corruption declarations and political speeches on the matter are a disingenuous attempt by the political class to pull wool over the taxpayers’ eyes. Practical ways of ending corruption include relooking all the laws that are letting corrupt people go scot-free and repealing them. Without big fish in jail, we won’t win the graft fight. We need the law on the taxpayers’ side not on the side of corrupt people. The incoming DPP must take cognisance of this.
