It has not come as a surprise that corruption cases in Kenya are on the increase. After all, efforts to tame the vice has remained a preserve of the national government, with not much being done to tame the scourge in the 47 county governments where government functionaries are still trying to make away with public funds and resources.
Granted, the National Executive and it's various investigative and law enforcement agencies have done a commendable job arraigning one public officer after another in court on corruption charges.
This is the kind of political will that lacked before in the fight against corruption. But as long as many of those cases are yet to be concluded and determined, those steeped in the vice and have the opportunity will continue robbing the public.
Kenyans still hell-bent on engaging in corruption will stop on their tracks when they begin to see those already facing corruption-related charges convicted one after another.
I am not in any way blaming the courts. There is no doubt that court [proceedings are not, and cannot be, as fast as the investigations that precede them. There has to be due process and the rules of natural justice must apply in the prosecution of the cases.
Besides, courts are already saddled with other criminal cases, and their calendars must be allowed to run like any other criminal justice system. However, that is not to say that they have a blank cheque to take forever.
The courts and the judiciary, in general, must do everything within their powers and capacity to adjudicate the cases in the shortest time possible. They must remain alive to the reasonable public expectation and dictum that justice delayed is justice denied.
It has not helped that a section of the executive remains indifferent to the fight against corruption, not missing a chance to sneer at those supposedly engaged in the fight.
For Kenya to deal a blow to corruption, mechanisms for generating and redistributing national wealth must be inclusive. But with majority of the country’s population feeling left out of the country’s economic, social and political processes, in particular, the increasing number of young but productive and educated young people out of employment, the fight against corruption will not be won.
Such desperate individuals will still engage in petty corruption, which cumulatively contributes to increased cases of corruption.
The Presiding Convener of the Civil Society Reference Group spoke to The Star
