Let 2020 be the year of integrity for our country

The 2019 has been seen by many as the one that our country’s crackdown on corruption finally materialised.

This issue is something which successive governments have discussed. Throughout the year that was, however, President Uhuru Kenyatta took many of these promises and translated them into concrete results.

Other than the Governor of Nairobi, Mike Sonko, who in a very high-profile case that coincided with International Corruption Day, was arrested on allegations of the vice, there is a long list of additional significant arrests that were made throughout the year.

These included the Governors of two additional states, Kiambu and Samburu, as well as those involved in at least four significant public corruption scandals.

The clear intolerance that Uhuru has exhibited towards corruption has made all of this possible. Uhuru promised that his crusade against graft will not stop until "the country is swept clean of corruption”. And while there is a long way to go, for once we can look forward to the year ahead with optimism.

This is more than can be said for many of our African brethren who live in countries with a leadership incapable of providing them with effective solutions to similar issues. This is ever relevant in neighbouring Somalia which was in 2019, ranked the world’s most corrupt country for the seventh year in a row. South Sudan, Sudan and Burundi have not fared much better in recent corruption indices.

Unlike these countries, Kenyans have much to look forward to. The past year’s positive examples in the crackdown against corruption were not stand-alone cases. These are instead, part of a prolonged and ongoing campaign. We can expect our leadership to remain equally committed to this important cause, which, as former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo so eloquently put it, “is not a one-night affair”.

No country is naturally prone to corruption. It is a dedicated government, coupled with an ethos of leadership that ensures that a country puts the well-being of its citizens first. Unlike some of our neighbours, these are two factors which are evident in our country and which will without a doubt give Kenyans a reason to look forward to 2020 being a year of integrity.

Some have accused the anti-corruption campaign spearheaded by Uhuru to be politically motivated. Yet this argument is not borne out by the facts. The crackdown has targeted high-ranking members of Uhuru’s own government, such as Minister of Finance Henry Rotich and his principal secretary Kamau Thugge. When allies are arrested, it is hard to argue it is a politically motivated campaign.

Beyond simple arrests, the campaign has also aimed to reform the system which allowed for this corruption to take root in the first place. Primary among these is requiring public officials to account for the source of their wealth. There is of course nothing wrong with being a wealthy public official. Yet if you made your fortune honestly, you should be able to show where it came from. More than that, as a public servant, you should be happy to do so.

Such steps will not rid our country of corrupt politicians. This naturally requires a commitment on the part of politicians to not abuse their power as well as a desire to use their roles in government to better the lives of their constituents. Yet implementing policies that make corruption more difficult, as well as creating concrete costs for stealing, are integral steps for those politicians who need to be reminded of the boundaries of their power as elected officials.

These steps have already proven instrumental in changing perceptions of corruption in Kenya, which decreased by close to 4 percent over the past year. This has coincided with a 2.25 percent rise in Kenya’s happiness index, a 2.17 percent rise in the prosperity index as well as 4 percent rise in the ease of doing business index.

While other factors have surely contributed to the increase in each of these independent factors, none of these can be completely disconnected from Uhuru’s war on graft.

With its expected continuation into 2020, these numbers will all surely continue to rise throughout the coming year. 2020 will invariably be the year that Kenyans remember as the year of integrity. The citizens of our country have fought long and hard for this. It is about time we got the clean and corruption free country that we all deserve.