Improve graft agencies’ capacity lest vice destroys Uhuru legacy

Kenyans are aghast, and indeed disgusted, at the avalanche of revelations of grand corruption in their country.

Indeed, “corruption” is too polite a word. What we are seeing is looting of the public’s resources. My wording, “the public’s resources”, is deliberate.

Yes, it is often described as government money, or money being collected by national and county governments through bodies such as KRA, NSSF and NHIF, or even borrowed.

But it is collected, or extracted, from the public or borrowed on their behalf in order to spend it on goods and services for them.

It is not State money per se. It is our money, period! The bodies that collect and dispense it are merely custodians of our money.

But what we are witnessing is a contagious disease. The figures are so mind-boggling that we all laugh cynically when top officials differ over whether a potential scam is ‘only’ Sh7 billion or Sh21 billion. Hardly a day goes by without theft of public money coming to light.

The figures are, indeed, gargantuan for most of us who are struggling in life. Years ago, many Kenyans shrugged off corruption as a ‘necessary evil’.

But that has changed markedly. There is rising anger to the extent that it could explode.

President Uhuru Kenyatta is right in his perception that Kenyans could take the law into their hands if this mega theft is not contained and reprimanded.

A significant mass of the public realise that the graft makes the majority a lot poorer than they should be.

It wipes off at least two percent of economic growth every year; so, when we talk about six percent economic growth, it should really be eight.

Multiply that loss over 20 or so years and it translates into reduced standards of living, less job opportunities and so on, and one gets a very grim picture.

One burning question is whether corruption, particularly of the grand looting variety, is at an all-time high.

It is difficult to give an exact answer to that. But it could be that the oxygen of publicity is exposing it much more than in previous years.

My judgment call is that, taken over the past five years, it is at an all-time high.

But as important is that the forensics in exposing it has become much more developed. That, coupled with the determination of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, makes an encouraging combination.

Without a doubt, there are certain clear trends. One, proposed projects deliberately become costlier than usual.

The argument that the standard gauge railway should have cost half what we spent on it is a valid one.

The project was previously tendered prior to it being given to a Chinese consortium and the winning bid was markedly less than what has been shelled out — as a result of a largely secretive single-sourcing arrangement.

But it is not government by itself that is at fault; the private sector is often a consensual partner in the looting of public funds. Corruption is rife also within the private sector.

Another big question at the moment is whether the political will and official capacity are enough to make more than a dent in corruption.

To put it more bluntly, will we soon see the doors of the green prison trucks close on convicted ‘big fish’ as they go to serve their jail terms?

Will the seizure of assets from these thieves gather momentum? Has the capacity to check looting improved?

If yes, then it is with the caveat that it is a work in progress. An equally critical question is whether the President is genuinely serious in his anti-graft purge, given that much of the looting happened under his watch.

But people who have interacted with him say that, if anything, he is even more determined, having realised that his legacy is at risk if he fails on this one issue.

The appointments of Haji, Kinoti and Kariuki as DPP, DCI and Attorney-General, respectively, have resulted in greater energy being galvanised against graft.

Their capacities must be increased considerably to ensure the mounting investigative and prosecutorial workload is tackled.