Graft should be unremittingly fought from all fronts

On Thursday last week a group of Members of Parliament led by outspoken Gwasi legislator John Mbadi held a meeting at Parliament's Old Chambers during which they accused members of the Parliamentary Service Commission of a litany of ills and asked them to resign.

Key among the ills that the PSC was lambasted for is varying multi-billion shilling contracts, extortion and nepotism in staff employment, salaries and promotions. Collectively these ills amount to corruption. To the vast majority of Kenyans there is nothing novel about these allegations. Any honest Kenyan will tell you that graft is so real in this country that only an imbecile will dispute its existence.

Efforts to rid the country of this awful vice have consistently come a cropper granted that some of its key architects and movers are men and women wielding immense cloud. A recent report by the National Cohesion and Integration Commission on distribution of jobs in the civil service made for interesting reading. In the said report, the Kibunja-led commission argued that employment and other opportunities are normally skewed in favour of the president's community.

So far only two communities have produced the three presidents Kenya has had and true to the commission's assertions people hailing from the two communities constitute the greater bulk of the civil service. This is directly attributable to the infamous 'our turn to eat syndrome' that has for far too long held sway in our country. No sooner one is elected or appointed to public office than he or she sets out to instal people from his/her ethnic community in as many positions as possible.

 The tragedy is that in the mad rash to have 'my people' all over key considerations like meritocracy and competence are relegated to the gutters and all that matters is doling out jobs to people from the big man's community. This explains why, as alleged by the MPs, there is a typist at Parliament earning more than a PhD holder. This loathsome spectre is not just restricted to the Legislature. In fact what we are being told about the PSC is child's play in comparison to what is obtaining in some key parastatals and other government sectors.

If thorough research and auditing were to be undertaken in other government departments many will be petrified and aghast at how deep graft runs in our country. Thousands of young graduate Kenyans have failed to get places to do internship for no other reason other than hailing from the 'wrong' community. Competent and able employees have been demoted, prematurely retired or even shown the door to make room for incompetent relatives and cronies of the high and mighty. Is it any wonder then that we are saddled with a civil service that is hopelessly in the grip of annoying incompetence, lethargy and overwhelming levels of inertia? More often than not we read and hear of thousands of ghost workers in many government departments that continue to draw huge salaries at the end of every month.

The plain truth is that this has nothing to do with non-existent workers but has everything to do with die hard cartels out to fleece the Kenyan taxpayer. It is an astutely choreographed ploy to enrich a clique of well heeled members of the civil service at the expense of the taxpayer. Besides, bidders for lucrative government contracts, as exemplified by the Parliamentary Service Commission in a contract to purchase a new office block, can as well forget everything about clinching the contracts they are bidding for-no matter how qualified- unless they are ready to part with substantial amounts of money as kickbacks.

Throw in the awful spectre of members of the PSC inviting women for sexual escapades in their offices, as revealed at the meeting held by MPs last Thursday, and you know that the rot is far much worse than we are imagining. Clearly all these paints a distressing and rankling picture. The million dollar question is, what should then be done?

In my view, attempts to bail us out of this quandary should majorly target young Kenyans. Churches, Mosques and schools should intensify efforts to inculcate in the young and elderly alike virtues that will uphold good governance. Young Kenyans should be made to clearly understand the awful side effects of dovetailing with corruption. The fact that ill-gotten wealth and shortcuts are a sure recipe for disaster should be impressed upon Kenyans, with renewed vigour.

Meanwhile those found guilty of aiding and abetting graft should face the full force of the law. There should be no sacred cows in the fight against sleaze. This is the only way to rid our country of this arch enemy of progress.

This article was published in the Star Newspaper on November 12,2011