The catalogue of Kenya’s grand corruption cases is instructive. From Ken-Ren Chemical fertilisers to the Arror and Talal Kimwarer dam projects, it would appear that we are dealing with a veritable intergenerational problem. In between, we have the Goldenberg heist, the Anglo Leasing plunder and the NYS I and NYS II pillage dramas.
There are many more scandals in which the Kenyan taxpayer has been ripped off of hundreds of billions if not tens of trillions since this country emerged from the shackles of an empire.
While the loot has feathered the nests of the pollical classes and their enabling entourage in the public and private sector, citizens have to deal with poor services such as education, health, security and infrastructure.
The accumulation of private wealth has in many ways compromised and undermined the pace, depth and breadth of our collective progress. The chasm of inequality has widened at a rate that I believe must have some correlation with egregious primitive and wanton looting of public resources.
As a consequence of such brazen and wanton looting since Independence, successive governments have not had sufficient resources to pay for basic services such as quality health and education, security, good roads and electricity.
Look at the state of public schools and hospitals. Shortage of teachers and doctors, lack of learning resources and basic medicines and equipment are considered the normal state of the public sector.
Police taking bribes from motorists or extorting money from innocent Kenyans on the street is normal. Paying a bribe to a magistrate or judge is normal. Paying a bribe to a school headteacher so your child is admitted to Standard 1 or Form 1 is how we do business. In the recent past, corrupting the Kenya National Examination Council officials for exam materials was a legitimate way of preparing young Kenyans for the KCPE and KCSE exams.
Three years ago a study published by the East Africa Institute of the Aga Khan University revealed that 35 per cent of Kenyan youth would take or give a bribe.
Moreover, 47 per cent admired those who made money by hook or by crook and 30 per cent believed corruption was profitable. About 50 per cent of our youth believed that it did not matter how one made money as long as one did not end up in jail.
In a paper published in the International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, I argue that values are shaped by and co-evolve with the institutions and norms of the wider society.
Former Chief Justice Willy Mutunga argues that social malaise such as corruption is a reflection of the quality of the elite (politicians, businessmen, clergy, civil servants, judges). The youth are a chip off the old block. Moreover, the apple does not fall far from the tree.
There is a huge reservoir of corruptible youth. Hence, the war on corruption must go beyond investigations and prosecution. President Uhuru Kenyatta must win the hearts and minds of Kenya’s youth and enlist them in his war on graft.
