As a child, I was convinced that corruption was a distant concept, a cloudy idea that existed up there, in the sky.
Again, politics, to me, was a preserve for the high and mighty, and politicians were untouchable.
Recently, while discussing with my peers about corruption by public officers, one remarked: “Why care so much? Why hold it so dearly? This money isn’t your mother’s!”
Today, while emotional as ever, I confirm that it’s really my mum’s money, it’s your mum’s money, our mum’s money!
Corruption has killed more people than guns and grenades combined, yet people hold that corruption is a victimless crime.
The money meant for the village dispensary was misappropriated by your local politician.
As a result, your younger brother died of lack of treatment. What about your cousin, jailed for life last week for robbery with violence?
You remember him struggling after university, jobless, and hearing about the money for industrialisation and that of the youth fund getting lost without a trace.
It’s 10.30 pm; your dad isn’t home yet, in dread of your mum’s insults for he only got Sh400 from the construction site.
She’ll remind him of the cost of unga and cooking oil, and tell him how insufficient a man he is— just like his money.
My mum is a ‘mama mboga’. She pays taxes by way of a business permit and VAT.
Accountability
A little perusal of government revenue books at my almost run-down university informed me that the government raises its money through taxes, land rates, licences and so forth.
So, I know my mum’s money, however little, forms part of that pool subjected to unprecedented misappropriation.
Many believe that corruption has nothing to do with their lives but it is everybody’s duty to hold the government accountable.
It not only derives its revenue from us but also its legitimacy. We are the sovereign, and the power it holds is a donation from us, to be exercised in our best interest.
The suffering, the turmoil, the tears and the despair will continue until we will decide to wake up and rise up to be active citizens.
