Graft doesn’t deserve amnesty

 

Those suggesting that the government give amnesty to corrupt individuals need to have their conscience and patriotism checked.

Fronting the campaign on amnesty for the most despicable of Kenyans is even more troubling. Proponents of the amnesty may be busy crunching the numbers to make an argument for it but they should remember that those numbers mean zilch to the common mwananchi, who is affected daily by corruption. It all sounds like one big whitewash campaign of corrupt leaders before the 2022 General Election.

One line of argument made for the amnesty is that the Kenyatta I (Jomo) and Kibaki regimes did offer amnesty to corrupt Kenyans and so Kenyatta II (Uhuru) should follow suit. It’s 10 years since the Kibaki administration and, despite amnesty being offered then, corruption has become more blatant, bigger and bolder under Kenyatta II. If amnesty worked, we would be talking of superb public service and not continued loss of massive public funds.

Burglary

To his credit, Kenyatta II publicly admitted that the vice costs the country some Sh2 billion a day. We are looking at a loss of Sh730 billion yearly if we include Christmas and weekend shifts of burglary of The National Treasury by the “cartels”.

Most Kenyans in a position of authority make it their role to steal public funds like money is running out of fashion. It’s their acceptable norm and consensus to deplete every public resource in their custody — as the huge corruption figures prove.

Amnesty is no panacea for corruption or the hardwired corrupt individuals. The latest Kemsa scandal takes the medal as it insensitively hit Covid-19 pandemic funds. That and the Kimwarer and Arror dams scams occurred despite the two amnesties.

Corruption has been so bad lately that what happened under the Kenyatta I and Kibaki regimes pale in size, according to the latest audit reports. Not a month goes by without senior government officials being summoned to Parliament — not to provide a record of development success but answer questions regarding loss of funds in their hands.

Parliament’s interrogation of governors about money embezzled in the counties has become a stale joke. They are just box-ticking formalities. Parliament’s role seems to be about grilling people left, right and centre rather than discussing more progressive issues that would build on the economy or save it from collapse.

Start afresh

Another argument that the proponents of amnesty make is that the system has failed to punish looters of public funds and so we should give them amnesty and start afresh. Kenya did start afresh on the corruption journey with the Kenyatta I and Kibaki amnesties but the move failed to plug the leaks. If anything, corruption got worse and stinks up the country.

But we must give credit where it is due. The recent anti-graft campaigns initiated by Kenyatta II have started to bear fruit. For the first time, an MP was found guilty of corruption and sentenced to more than 60 years imprisonment. Many cases have been brought to court involving Cabinet Ministers, Principal Secretaries and many more senior officials. This is unprecedented in Kenya, where many corrupt individuals were previously untouchable.

The few success stories are confidence boosters and the justice system needs to be given a chance to prove its mettle where amnesty previously failed.

The rights of the victims of graft have not been considered either as the amnesty anthem is sneakily introduced in the middle of a historical legal campaign to fight corruption. The push to punish corrupt individuals with both prison terms and confiscation of wealth built from stolen public funds is appealing to many Kenyans and investors and long may it continue!

Amnesty does not hit the pockets of the thieves but taxpayers. It is time to try a more punitive model. To forgive individuals who have stolen billions of shillings from taxpayers and give them the right to keep the money is tacit corruption. What the country needs to continue aiming for is giving back to the public what had been stolen from them. That is the fairest remedy available to the taxpayers.

The power to offer amnesty to the corrupt by a president needs reviewing, too, if we’re serious about tackling the problem head-on. It’s imprudent to give such excessive powers to one person in a country with entrenched corruption as ours. It’s also open to abuse by a corrupt leader(s).

The legal route offers hope and opportunities to both the citizens and organisations affected by corruption. Public litigation has recently been used by civil society groups to pursue graft cases with a great degree of success; amnesty will ruin it.

Ordinary Kenyans wish to see the corrupt hanged, drawn and quartered — and fed to the lions. However, the best humane option we have for now is to offer long and stiff custodial sentences as a deterrent to protect public interests.     BY DAILY NATION