Whoever fights monsters should see to it that he does not become a monster in the process. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back at you. Those are the words of Friedrich Nietzsche with respect to corruption.
Corruption has been a defining factor in the Jubilee Administration, and that has been amplified recently with corruption talk skyrocketing after the March 9 handshake.
The president on his part has been emotional in public. His statement “nifanye nini jameni” made during his first term in office told of a president under siege.
They say that before pointing an accusing finger, make sure yours is clean. It gave impetus to the lords of graft to hone their craft.
On more than one occasion, he has been threatening cabinet secretaries including Mwangi Kiunjuri, Monica Juma and Peter Munya.
Admonishing them for “lack of seriousness” is a vice they have learned from the president.
They will not deliver but only ‘act seriously.’ And by the words of George Orwell, the distinguishing mark of a man is the hand, the instrument with which he does all his mischief.
When the president gives ambassadorial assignments to former ministers previously implicated in corruption, it tells volumes about how he perceives corruption; he caresses, embraces, and soothes when everyone else scolds it.
Why should any sober president give some people diplomatic duties when their integrity and ability to deliver is questionable? The reality is that in every action there’s an equal and opposite reaction; and that corruption fights back with equal magnitude -if not more-than it gets. The lawyers for the corrupt are more competent than public prosecutors.
The despair displayed by the president will have Kenyans thinking twice about paying their taxes. The reality is that paying tax at the moment is tantamount to funding graft.
Why should a Kenyan pay taxes if the same is going to be misappropriated? Why pay tax if you will still donate in support of the hunger stricken Kenyans in the north?
Corruption should be categorised as crime against humanity since it leads to death of Kenyans whether in short or long term basis.
That bad road whose funds were misused can lead to a pregnant mother perishing; farm produce rotting before delivery and kids staying home due to lack of fees, and later resorting to crime.
That irrigation project in Galana which chewed billions of shillings has exposed millions of citizens to hunger.
The president needs to say what he means and mean what he says, or else the legacy agenda will remain a phantasm of grandeur.
He will go down as the worst president Kenya has ever had and whose vexed emotions irrigated corruption and left farmlands dry.