GUYO: Address was chance to heighten corruption warning to ‘Severe’

The war on graft has been waged. We have heard of this war a lot in the past few years. It has excited many Kenyans to finally see individuals previously deemed to be above reproach dragged to court to face graft charges.

The collective frustrations that continue to follow this war, however, is that it has not produced any casualties from the ‘big fish’ pool in the many years we have engaged with corruption. The time is now!

President Uhuru Kenyatta has issued warning after another to corrupt individuals, to a point where it is losing its bite. If at war, then we need to approach corruption like we approach terrorism: Go in hard and fast. The warning need to now move to its severest level and locked there until the country is rid of the menace.

In his State of the Nation address on Thursday, the President touched on many issues of national importance. However, his remarks on the fight against corruption, though reassuring, needed more gravitas.

If there is anything that has plagued the country to disastrous effect, then it is corruption. As a result, many citizens have called for it to be declared a ‘state of emergency’. I don’t think it is far from that.

On the same line, Chief Magistrate Douglas Ogoti was quoted last week as saying that corruption was, indeed, getting “worse than murder”. What else has made many Kenyans endure unnecessary hardship where they ought not than corruption?

In every budget, we are told the government has provided funding for key services. But that ends up stolen. If somebody were to die for lack of available medication, denied due to corruption, then we are talking of murder.

This is repeated in schools, with no books and essential facilities, roads not being built where they ought to be built and dams not set up despite funds being provided for.

The deliberate and wanton stealing has meant that many Kenyans are left wallowing in poverty because those made in charge by the President and through our votes decided the money looks better in their pockets — to the detriment of our health and general well-being.

How, then, can runaway corruption not be a ‘state of emergency’ when tens of millions of citizens are denied key and essential services by the gluttony of the minority, who threaten our very existence?

What, perhaps, we haven’t woken up to is the fact that corruption is denying, particularly many young Kenyans, opportunities. The inverse of that is that they turn to corrupt activities as they see it benefiting leaders.

They may not get to the higher rungs of power but they go for the next best thing to survive, turning to counterfeit goods, production of fake academic papers and money. We end up exporting more of corruption than the cash crops that we are traditionally known for because somebody somewhere chose to kill the industries that would employ the youth locally.

The story that broke in the UK recently about how young intelligent Kenyans have turned to writing theses for university students abroad at a fee shows what happens when we let corruption buffers get breached. It opens floodgates to nightmare for the citizens and the country.

It slowly starts to eat into the national psyche and dents the image of the nation.

If we don’t act now, we may even end up being flagged just by our passports — like the citizens of lawless countries who suffer irreputable indignity as a result of untamed corruption.

Industries such as tourism that we take pride in are staring at the challenges borne of corruption. No industry or any part of our way of life can be spared if we do not get serious and end corruption.

Going to war means the commander is leading from the front. The President has shown commitment but needs to go further and declare the ‘state of emergency’ on corruption. His warnings on corruption have not crossed the threshold of threats and needs to move to its most severe of warnings.

Nothing will bring fear to the hardened thieves of public funds than to know that the offensive to the war on corruption is deadly. I can only, therefore, urge the President to put more beef on his warnings against corruption and to the corrupt.

President Kenyatta has signed up to this war and he can only come out victorious to cement the legacy he dreams to bequeath the country.

If he says this is war, then he must throw everything at it — including the kitchen sink and jikos. It is not a war that will be won by warnings alone; it needs sustained efforts from him.

Those efforts need to be focused on continued support for the crucial agencies working in the frontline and shielding them from pushback from the ‘Mafia’ within and without the government.

Winning the war on corruption will be the most cathartic thing Kenya has ever deserved — and we deserve nothing less.