All suspects should carry own cross
Current and former Kenya Power managers were arraigned in court on July 17, 2018 over corruption. The corruption purge can only succeed when those in the criminal justice system — especially the police, the DPP and the courts — have the confidence to do their work without interference, intimidation or threats from those with vested interests. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- Corruption at whatever level – has over time been accepted in most places, from the highest to the lowest paid.
- A police officer stops you and because there is a little problem, you are quite happy to give him or her Sh100 which he or she accepts gladly and you move on.
- People could be talking about the grand corruption at the NYS and other places but it all starts in small places.
There is an aspect of our life as a nation in the current economic and political environment that has generated quite some energetic activity in the way we think.
I find it quite interesting because it is indeed a matter that has been with us for a long time but we all pretended that it is just a way of being Kenyans.
The matter I am thinking about is one that is at the bottom of many of our problems in this country and I know that some – in fact many – political leaders understand what I am talking about.
It is the cancer that I have been talking about in this column for a while with regard to the fact that one cannot think about Kenyan political activity and not factor in our corrupt attitudes and behaviour patterns that seem to be the way many of us think.
Here I wish to deliberately talk about a culture which, whether we like it or not, is a really destructive element of our nationhood and which we have to deal with in a decisive manner.
CORRUPTION
Unfortunately this scenario – of corruption at whatever level – has over time been accepted in most places, from the highest to the lowest paid.
We countrymen just move on with it without wanting to know whether or not it can be cured. In many respects we become part of it.
A police officer stops you and because there is a little problem, you are quite happy to give him or her Sh100 which he or she accepts gladly and you move on. People could be talking about the grand corruption at the NYS and other places but it all starts in small places.
Power is a big resource for national development. Here I am thinking about political power as well as electric power.
POWER BILL
Not so long ago, my power bill was below Sh5,000. Today it is well over Sh10,000 and if I am a little late in paying, there are fellows who come over with threats.
Now we have seen the Public Prosecutor making an effort to prosecute high ranking people. I am sure he has some evidence that informed his action.
Yet the concerned Minister thinks that the police should exercise their mandate in the most comfortable manner to those who have been suspected.
That is where the fight against corruption fails completely. We will not get anywhere with the struggle if political power continues to protect people suspected of corruption.
The writer is dean of students and sociology lecturer at the University of Nairobi; [email protected]
