The earthquake in Turkey and Syria has killed over 47,000 people with many more yet to be accounted for. Turkey lost more than 40,000 people.
The deaths in Turkey are blamed not just on the earthquake but also poorly built apartment blocks that came down like a pack of cards. The poorly designed buildings were allegedly the fault of engineers and government officials who cut corners and took bribes, respectively, by putting up what have now become death traps.
The Turkish government has since rounded up more than 100 people whom it holds accountable for the poorly constructed homes. If it were not for the earthquake, no such action would, perhaps, ever have been taken. That is Turkey.
Here in Kenya, too, buildings collapsing and killing people is the norm. I cannot recall anyone being held accountable and punished for it despite the initial flurry of arrests as soon as a building collapses.
Why do I say this? Because Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu reportedly thinks the best way to end corruption is to let the corrupt invest the looted public resources in the country rather than siphon them out of the country.
Global problem
The investment would most likely be apartment blocks. The best way stolen money is now laundered is through buildings. That is a global problem that affects many cities in Africa, Europe, the US and the Middle East. The yardstick for stolen money is how many homes a corrupt official builds and owns.
Corrupt people could never think in any other way but corruptly. They are your typical psychopaths. If they never thought stealing from the sick is a terrible thing, they wouldn’t have any qualms about cramming tenants in a cardboard box for a quick buck. It takes warped people to steal the way politicians and government officials do in Kenya. No reasonable and moral person would think of walking out of an office with a stolen paperclip.
Corrupt people deserve harsher punishment, not negotiation. If it takes their being drawn behind their Range Rovers acquired through theft, then hanged and quartered, so be it! It may sound harsh but most Kenyans would agree that corrupt people who make patients die for lack of basic care and deny children an education through corruption deserve nothing less than the inhumane treatment they mete out on the citizens or even worse. They do not deserve amnesty or a conducive environment to invest looted public funds.
Vanguard of the Constitution
The Auditor-General, just as EACC, ODPP and the Chief Justice, are the last vanguard of the Constitution and protecting the country from corrupt people should top their ‘Things To Do’ list. Withdrawal of corruption cases—and now, allowing corrupt people latitude in how they spend embezzled public funds—does not fall within the realm of their mandates.
It is not within their legal duty to handle the corrupt with kid gloves either. Giving them an easy ride even after they deplete public resources is breach of the Constitution and any official who does so is in contravention of the law and acts ultra vires.
The law is clear about how corruption should to be punished and by whom. For an independent agency to as much as think the best way to deal with corruption is to protect the corrupt, it means they are complicit in the vice and working against the Constitution.
The criminal justice system and the independent agencies set up to deal with corruption took an oath to protect the Constitution and public resources. Which means they have a legal and fiduciary duty to protect the country from corrupt people. For any other deal they strike with the corrupt ‘behind the tent’, they should equally be held to account for failing in their duty.
We should hold officials and offices that fail to tackle corruption accountable as much as we do corrupt people. If independent bodies set up to deal with corruption did their jobs diligently, we wouldn’t have the wanton loss of public funds.
Protect corrupt people
Giving amnesties and discussing with the corrupt how they can invest stolen money is decriminalising corruption. This is against the Constitution. If the corrupt individuals are known, let them face the full force of the law. Taxpayers expect their funds to be used in service delivery for their benefit and not laundered and then put into paperweight apartments that would kill them when they collapse.
Let the Auditor-General, ODDP, EACC and the courts do their work in accordance with their mandates and the law to end corruption in Kenya. They are not paid to protect corrupt people. Decriminalising corruption is not the answer; it is claiming defeat and letting corruption win.
Failing to take action on corrupt people is failing the taxpayers. Striking deals with the corrupt without the input of the taxpayers reeks of corruption. The money is the taxpayers’ and they should have the last word in what, how and when it should be spent and how those who steal from them are punished. Tax collection becomes meaningless if those who steal public funds are let off the hook. BY DAILY NATION