Singapore's story, over which countless commentators have written, quickly springs to mind. In the 1960s and 1970s, the Asian Tiger's founding father Dr Lee Kwan Yew and his Cabinet shared and embraced the vision of improving the living conditions of their people. But they were pretty much alive to the fact that being long on rhetoric and short on action would not avail anything. Consequently they quickly enacted legislation aimed at stamping out graft and unanimously agreed that there would be no sacred cows in the war against corruption.
And true to this agreement, not even ministers who were regarded as confidants of Kwan Yew were spared in the purge against sleaze. Ministers had also to do with the little that the government could provide. The rankling spectre of several sleek fuel guzzlers being allocated to ministers and other top government officials at the tax payer's expense was unheard of in Singapore. Much of the government revenue was invested into projects aimed at improving the economy.
Education of young people was top on Kwan Yew's priorities. He ensured that as many young people as possible were sent to some of the top universities in the West. Needless to tell say that as a result of these measures Singapore presently ranks as one of the most developed countries with a GDP that leaves many steaming with envy.
As I ponder such stories from across the globe I cannot help but think of Kenya, my beloved country. It is not in doubt that 50 years after unyoking herself from the colonial yoke, Kenya remains an economic dwarf that has become the bane of jokes in international circles. What many find hard to decipher is why a country within whose borders God deposited so much talent and resources is still lagging behind. We, nonetheless, need not look far to diagnose what is ailing our country.
Just this week Kenyans woke up to news that Sh700 million has been set aside to purchase retired President Mwai Kibaki an office. This is in addition to a retirement home put up for the retired president at Mweiga in Nyeri at the the cost of Sh500 million. The said home has an office wing. Pursuant to the passing of the Presidential Retirement Benefits Act, Kibaki also received a sent-off package of Sh25 million in lumpsum. This is in addition to a monthly allowance of Sh195,000 for fuel, Sh300,000 for house allowance, Sh200,000 as entertainment allowance among other benefits. The question that bears interrogation is, are all these benefits really necessary for someone who has been in employment earning a good salary since the late 1950s?
Can Kenya really afford to pay all these and still have sufficient funds to invest in worthy projects such as the education of our children? What kind of work will Kibaki be undertaking in the Sh700 million office and how beneficial to Kenyans will the work be? It is good and commendable that Parliament saw the futility of allocating Sh700 million to the purchase of an office for a retired president and diverted the funds to paying salaries for teachers.
The argument that these benefits are due to the retired president since they are provided for in the Presidential Retirement Benefits Act doesn't make sense. The Salaries and Remuneration Commission, the body bestowed with the responsibility of setting and reviewing the remuneration and benefits of all state officers, was not involved in arriving at these benefits. That makes the statute unconstitutional.
As a country we can ill-afford to continue deluding ourselves. Long speeches on how measures will be put in place to ensure that the economy grows by a double digit will not help us in any way. Grandiose blue-prints such as Vision 2030 will remain a pipe dream as long as the government continues to prevaricate on embracing austerity measures.
President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto had better realise that their rhetoric on how they intend to better the lot of Kenyans is not new and cannot deceive anyone. Kenyans have heard that before.
It is the height of self-deception to still believe that things will get better when our lazy and woolly MPs are doing everything within their ability to ensure they earn salaries our economy can scarcely afford to sustain. A country whose top officials see no fault in spending millions of tax payer's money to charter private jets to run personal errands disguised as official business has no chance of experiencing significant economic progress.
How can we even think of progressing when people implicated in scandals that have seen the county lose billions of shillings are still permitted to hold public office? It is a shame.
This article was published in the Star Newspaper on ,2013
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