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Why Kenya’s Government Cannot Win War on Graft
Though many would argue that the International Criminal Court (ICC) served as an ideal platform for the ascendancy of the duo of Uhuru and Ruto to the presidency, it is undeniably true that theirs was a major victory for the Status Quo.
Way back in 2014, for unknown reasons, Kibaki’s regime backed down as far as jailing those indicted on corruption of an unimaginable scale during the 24-year-Moi iron-fist rule by the Kroll Associates Report. When reports started emerging that Moi (two years earlier a fierce critique of Kibaki) would support not only Kibaki’s re-election, but also the disputed Wako Draft, eyebrows were raised, ear-splitting whispers were overheard, and Kenyans knew they had been short-changed.
Kibaki’s government, despite its Zero-Tolerance Pledge on corruption, had realized theirs was a mission impossible! Their hands were literally tied, and it was then an open secret that the new administration, just like Moi’s administration, shared a similar fate: that both could not feign sanctity and neither could they unchain their foot soldiers from an extricable fate characterized by a deeply enshrined culture of state-sanctioned thieving and runaway impunity.
Unlike Kibaki’s, UhuRuto’s rise in power carried very tiny shreds of euphoria that had ushered in the former. But Kenyans still wanted a savior; a David who could swing the sling, and sent the Goliath of corruption six feet beneath the bowels of the earth.
Almost four years down the line, the ugly truth is rearing its prominent head yet again….It was never about corruption! It was, may be, and perhaps partly, about protecting the precious necks of the infamous HAGUE-SIX. But truth is it was, it has, it is, and it will always be about the Status Quo.
The UhuRuto duet is a political orphan of Moi’s Class of Political Ideology. Like their predecessor, the two are obsessed with protecting, safeguarding, and even expanding their empires; empires whose formidable cornerstones are proceeds of years of runaway state-sanctioned looting; empires which are ever under threat; threats from a not-so-honest army of opposition chiefs who are eager to capitalize on the electorate’s disillusionment to topple the top chiefs sitting squarely in the High Table, and holding the YAM and the KNIFE.
Uhuru, as an individual, in my opinion, would have nearly won the fight against graft. Problem is that his TNA wing of the ruling coalition is lawfully wedded to URP which houses remnants from KANU, and to that effect Moi’s School of Political Ideology, who are yet to tame their itchy fingers from plundering the public till.
Fighting corruption, for the JUBILEE, would mean breaking up TNA/URP marriage; it would mean doing away with Kalenjin-Kikuyu ruling dynasty; it would mean chewing one’s tail; it would mean twisting the tail of a wounded lion that would fight back nefariously. Fighting corruption would mean, more so for the President, alienating his key allies in the ruling coalition, and sacrificing yet another chance of ascending to the State House come August 2017.
Simply put, for the government to survive, it must condone mega corruption scandals and their perpetrators wholeheartedly!
