Stop sideshows and deal with corruption decisively

Prediction by the Kenya Anti Corruption Commission that there is likely to be an increase in the theft of public resources to fund the 2012 elections brings into sharp focus governance concerns that have soiled every election since the heady days of the one party rule.

At a time when the country is faced with a Sh280 million cemetery scandal, Kacc is convinced that politicians and civil servants could soon be on a mission to empty public coffers and line up their pockets with notes and mints to dish out to the electorate in the hope of currying favour at the ballot.

While this is happening, several other mega corruption scandals like the Anglo Leasing, Goldenberg, free primary education, maize and others continue to haunt the country, making Kenya the third most corrupt country in Africa and 35th in the world.

Despite Kacc’s red flag being too general to be accorded any whistle-blower value, it robs the government of the now familiar reactionary attempts to seal loopholes through which public money was lost, long after the plunderers have skimmed the proceeds to safe havens and untraceable assets held through a web of proxies.

What the Kacc red flag does is to turn the spotlight on the cyclic theft of public finds in the run up to every general election starting with the 1992 one that gave birth to Goldenberg, the $1 billion ghost minerals and jewellery exports scam.

Although President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga have recently sought to show their commitment to fighting graft by sending home nearly 20 senior public officials in ministries implicated in scandals, the selective nature of the interdictions has betrayed an underlying effort at public relations and damage control.

Why send civil servants home while leaving the political face of the ministries — the ministers — untouched?

That few of those interdicted are yet to be charged in court also suggests a management by crisis approach rather than a strategic view meant to prevent, detect and deter theft through an elaborate justice system.

Knowing the Kenyan judicial system all too well, few of those paraded in courtrooms to answer graft charges believe any reprisals would ensue from the proceedings in the near future.

Neither does the public whose pent up frustration of seeing white collar crime go unpunished has informed calls for Chinese style executions of those found with their fingers in the public purse.

While such remedies would have no basis until they are embedded in the law, they represent a growing view that the fight against corruption needs to be tackled outside the box to an extent that being associated with bribery and abuse of office would consign the accused to a pariah existence.

While some progress has been made in the fight against corruption, there is still a lot that needs to be done — especially if all agencies put up a combined fight — devoid of that primal jinx to progress on all fronts in Kenya; sectarian politics.

The starting point would be to streamline the roles of the various anti-corruption agencies — Kacc, AG’s office, the anti-corruption steering committee and the police force — that without commensurate returns are increasingly turning to be another drain on public resources.

It is only when their mandates are clearly defined and interfaces drawn that any of these watchdogs can justify their demands for more funding.

But until there are living examples of corrupt individuals serving at Kamiti, there will be no fear of reprisals that keep human beings within the confines of the law and the war against corruption will be lost.