By Gilbert OKenya
There are a few things that must be clear on Uhuru Kenyatta’s declaration of war against corruption:
ONE: Any president in Uhuru’s shoes must first only worry about his legacy, not those of his predecessors. When Kenya’s history will be finally written, Uhuru’s legacy will span ten years – from 2013 to 2022.
Uhuru can only be held responsible for what happened during his presidency. It therefore makes sense that his war on corruption must first target individuals who have corruptly amassed immoral amounts of wealth within the few years that Jubilee has been in power. These are the number one enemies of his legacy.
Do you see why it is not only foolhardy but also diversionary to ask Uhuru to backdate his lifestyle audit to 1963? Those who have been pushing for this are plainly insincere and they only make the public suspect that they are frantically trying to hide something from all of us.
For pete’s sake Uhuru hasn’t been the Kenyan president since 1963 and there is absolutely no reason for him to carry the burdens of his predecessors, especially when he has a lot of cleaning to do in his own regime!
But then again, most of the people who served in government since 1963, including Uhuru’s own father, are long dead. So, what kind of lifestyle audit can you perform on the long dead ancestors? Do the dead have a lifestyle in the first place?
Only the illiterate or educated fools can’t understand what a lifestyle audit is and it turns out that we have so many noisy leaders who fall in both categories. A proper lifestyle audit can only be conducted on you if you are there to explain how you amassed your wealth.
TWO. The noise we have been hearing that the said war on corruption targets one William Samoei Arap Ruto is pure balderdash. What if he turns out to be the most corrupt individual in the Jubilee regime?
Should he then be left to get away with nasty economic crimes, that might have crippled the Kenyan economy hence denying millions basic services, just because he has 2022 presidential ambitions?
Jubilee has been touted as the most corrupt regime in Kenya since the country got her independence and someone high in government must be held responsible for that. And you know what? The buck stops with Mr. President, whether he looted or not. It is his legacy that is at stake here.
If I were in president Uhuru Kenyatta’s shoes, it wouldn’t matter whether the most corrupt individual in my regime is my brother Muhoho or my deputy William.
I will go for the biggest culprit and squeeze his balls until they begin singing like a Spanish guitar. Ndio liwe funzo kubwa kwa wengine.
Finally, all Kenyans of goodwill must always support any president who shows even an iota of willingness to fight corruption.
We all know that the fight against graft in this country has always failed because of lack of political goodwill, particularly from the CEO of the country.
It doesn’t matter whether you like Uhuru Kenyatta or not. It would suffice to know that we can never wait for Jesus Christ to become the main occupant of the big house on the hill before we make serious attempts to fight mega corruption in government.
If we are waiting for a saint to occupy statehouse before we commence a genuine purge against graft in Kenya, then my fellow countrymen, we have a very long waiting to do. Saints never ascend to that big office. They are not even in the highest religious offices.
For once, folks, let’s stop this foolish and childish argument that if the Kenyatta family looted, then all other individuals who rise to high office are justified to fleece this country dry.
This is akin to a village kid caught licking mummy’s sugar and the only defense he/she has is that another kid, who wasn’t caught in the act, also stole the same sugar previous day!
This country might have enough for each one of us but we obviously don’t have enough for our combined greed. In Kenya, mega corruption has become the norm rather than the exception.
If this trend of economic hemorrhage isn’t stopped now, soon we might not have a country to talk about. The war on corruption must start somewhere and the time is now.
Instead of trying to shield “our thieves” the best thing we can do as a people is to hold Uhuru Kenyatta accountable to his promise of seriously fighting the ugly monster of corruption, regardless of whose political ambitions are at stake.
As for historical injustices, we can then later gradually sort them out by demanding for the full implementation of the TJRC report.
But for now, all people who have stolen huge amounts of money from the public, including the idiots squandering county funds with abandon, should face the music.
Hit them where it hurts most and make them unfit to hold any public office in future.
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