Voters should bear the burden of their infinite love for bribes: The Standard

Opacity. That is the word that describes the Kenyan system of governance, the citizens’ psyches and living styles of politicians and State officers. This is because transparency has never been Kenyans’ forte.

For the past one week, Kenyans have been wailing about corruption after it was reported that billions of shillings meant for curbing the spread of coronavirus have ended up in the wrong hands, pockets and bank accounts.
Nothing new. For eons, Kenyans have been crying foul about graft, and every day, there is a speech about fighting it and ending it. In fact, winning the war against corruption has become a mantra that Kenyans and their leaders chant daily — and that makes them happy.
Corruption, as Pope Francis said, is paid by the poor, but in Kenya, the poor fuel corruption and pay for their own sins by perpetually being helpless — and they seem to like it.
Even as they cry over corruption now, do they remember how they got here? In recent history, there have been the mega scams of Goldenberg and Anglo-Leasing and in between, several scandals that overshadow the coronavirus-related heist.
Shadowy figures behind these pilferages and their surrogates and cronies are known, but Kenyans, gullible and easily corruptible, always reward them with positions of power and authority.
While in power, they continue stealing and protecting their wealth while ensuring their easily excitable poverty-stricken voters depend on them since they go to them masquerading as philanthropists.
It is easy to blame politicians for this vicious cycle of corruption, and subsequently poverty, but these politicians are not foreigners. They grew up with the so-called ordinary Kenyans who are besotted with sufferance because opportunities for growth have been hijacked.
Every so often, crops of young politicians throw their hats in the ring and vow to fight corruption and secure opportunities for the youth. However, before long they are neck-deep in the graft muck under the pupillage of established charlatans who send them with freebies to hoodwink young voters.

Kenyans, and more so the youth, do not ask about the source of their leaders’ sudden wealth as theirs is to sing paeans and accept handouts from these young politicians who turn out to be the most corrupt.
In fact, these younger politicians are so good at spreading the message that when it comes to public resources, opacity is the name of the game and transparency is a quality better left to glass.
Ideally, stealing is an inert art in Kenyans and political or State office just propels them to large-scale thuggery.
Costs of all public projects must be inflated so kickbacks can be bigger. Public officials at all levels must be bribed to allow cutting of corners and they must not embrace transparency in all dealings. Those are the unwritten rules in Kenya and the only ones that are observed religiously.
Government and political offices are filled with deeply irresponsible characters. The funds they steal, laundered or not, circulate among their families, friends and business partners.
The loot ends up in the communities, in trickles, especially during electioneering period. After the polls, politicians scoot away to steal some more, and stifle development projects, till the next election cycle when they throw a part of their loot at voters, who gladly elect them again.
Kenyans have had a whole generation to end this madness but they can’t. No, they don’t want to because illegalities have been normalised.
And everyone is a culprit since the spoils are shared in churches, funerals and wherever two or three are gathered in the name of poverty to listen to the gospel of corruption.
They are tickled with stories of how multi-billion poultry businesses were started with just a feather and are regaled with blossoming tales of how flower farms were started with just a petal, and they swallow the lies.
Kenyans hate the it-starts-with-you refrain because it reminds them of their mistakes at the ballot since 1992, and more so, three times in the past seven years.
Now here they are, gnashing their teeth and screaming that jobbery is at its highest. It has never been low. They have always been the losers. They know it but they deliberately forget.
The losses corruption breeds outweigh the gains, but since the vice has grown in Kenyans, they love short term gains which translate into long periods of strife — when they can cry out to the same people responsible for their poor living standards.
Kenyan voters should bear the burden of their propensity for bribery. The recipient of ill-gotten wealth is just as guilty as the giver — only worse because they are the ones who suffer.
Yet, they are the ones who can end the thieving ways of State officers and politicians and end the suffering. Sadly, they all seem corrupt and hate transparency in governance.
The writer is an editor with The Standard.