is not any more or less corrupt than
any other country in the world.
Corruption is a vice that affects all
nations because in the final analysis
those who indulge in it have made a
conscious individual choice to be so.
Corruption is so pervasive and
insidious that China, for example, a
country that we currently admire as
a fast growing economy has made
economic crimes capital offences. They
recognize that corruption negates
development and growth and has to
be tamed.
What the China attitude to
corruption suggests is that the issue
is not whether corruption exists
or not but the way the state reacts
to corruption is what informs the
perception. China can confidently
claim that it has a zero tolerance to
corruption policy.
conclusion that most Kenyans have
resigned to the fact that corruption
is here to stay and have taken the
attitude that if you can’t beat them
then join them. Corruption is actually
actively being encouraged by our
behaviour.
the real demonstration of how to
steal public funds was going to be
spearheaded by the very ministry that
was given the responsibility to babysit
the process of devolution and ensure
the counties started life on a sound
footing.
To Kenyans the Patni’s of this country
are stuff of legend, we admire those
that have managed to swindle us and
we so admired them that we made
a constitution that facilitates grand
larceny and protects them from ever
paying up for their crimes.
The shameless and wanton pillage
that took place in the ministry was
ably assisted by a financial system
IFMIS that was supposedly foolproof
but which eventually enabled theft to
be up-scaled from misappropriating
thousands of shillings to transferring
billions to personal accounts.
The two Kenyans that are doing very
well currently are the thief and his
lawyer. The wiry lawyers managed to
even spread the cancer of corruption
by creating a clever economy milking
device called devolution which is
entrenched in the constitution.
Amusingly Kenya claims to have
the same policy and we are aware of
several anti-corruption tsars that have
shouted from the rooftops claiming
that they were on course to slaying
the graft dragon, only for them to be
consumed by the dragon.
By creating a convoluted system
of checks and balances, the county
governments have become the
epitome of unaccountability as it is
virtually impossible to pinpoint who
is actually to blame when billions go
missing so long as the legal and not
correct process was followed.
Ochieng has actually come to the
What we did not expect was that
Then we have the complicit banks that
ensured that huge amounts of money
would be processed overnight to allow
crooks withdraw the money the very
next morning. When politicians told
us that they wanted to make this a 24
hour economy we did not envisage
fraudsters to be the managers.
Ochieng has always had difficulty in
understanding how banks can be the
best performing institutions in a poor
country. Where are those transactions
that allow a bank to earn commissions
and fees in the rate of billions coming
from in a country that is struggling
economically?
Taking the cue from the devolution
ministry the counties have not
disappointed. Governors treat the
county bourse like personal piggy
banks to bankroll an ostentatious
lifestyle fit for the kings and queens
of yore. In this case the queens are
multiple mistresses and concubines on
county pay.
So powerful have the counties
become that they actually threaten the
authority of the central government.
We have a silly constitution that
ensures that we have a whining and
complaining county government that
blames the central government who
have no authority over them.