We see the headlines every day – stories about public funds being pilfered at an astounding extent.
The million has been discarded into the old-fashioned bin of yesterday and are now living in the new era of the billion.
The stealing is on an unprecedented scale, incomprehensible to the common wananchi.
And it seems, the more billions you steal, the further away you can stay from the consequences of your crime.
Mwananchi reads about all this thievery happening and feels like giving up the notion of raising their children in a just, honest society that rewards good and punishes wrongdoing.
But we cannot give up nor give in because there are tools available to make strides in slaying this corruption dragon. In the last few weeks, there has been a clamour to at least stem the bleeding from corruption by looking at the bigger picture and identifying the weaknesses in the fight for justice.
This weak link is, undoubtedly, the Judiciary. High profile cases literally grind to a halt there.
The minor offenders are quickly dispatched to jail terms that look overly harsh as the big crooks walk around free and without bother, having seen mention or hearing dates set for many months away in the future.
Our only hope in winning this graft war is to Investigate, Arrest and Remove. And the DCI and the DPP must rise to the challenge.
These offices have so far done well. For instance, they investigated the case against the Akasha’s efficiently.
When they were extradited to the United States, the evidence they had gathered was enough to have them incarcerated for 23 years to life in prison. So the ability is there and what we probably need is a little more effort from DCI George Kinoti and DPP Nordin Haji.
When you remove a corruption suspect from office, you immediately cut off the corruption gravy train and disrupt its course, saving the country incredible amounts of money. After the removal of these suspects, freeze their bank accounts and seize their assets with a view to recovering lost monies.
That will set a painful example to those who Imagine that dipping their fingers into the public coffers is easy. If we don’t set such examples, we shall continue seeing mega corruption occurring at every turn.
It can be done, The DCI and the DPP need to keep working at the standards we know they’re capable of and they’ll be able to do something that seems impossible right now – Save our great nation from the jaws of a dragon that threatens to devour us.