Contrary to what editor insinuates, the presidency will not condone corruption

PHOTO | FILE President Uhuru Kenyatta (right) with his deputy William Ruto at a past function. 

In Summary

• I write to protest against this cavalier attitude to facts. First of all, as far as I can determine, Mr Alfred Keter purports to protest corruption in relation to the standard gauge railway project, and disenchantment with the tribal ratios in public sector appointments.
• Why has Mr Gaitho closed his eyes to blinding realities: that corrupt, obstructive and malignant networks of high-ranking civil servants exist, and that sooner rather than later, they will have to go? 

 

By Eric Ng'eno
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On Tuesday last week, Nation editor Macharia Gaitho penned what is arguably his most distressing op-ed titled: ‘Has Ruto let the cat out of the bag with his lament about bad advice?’ (Read the article here)

This is a barefaced contrivance to frame a non-existent political dispute along volatile ethnic contours. His contention is that Mr Charles Keter, Mr Alfred Keter and I are in a conspiracy to propagate narrow tribal interests at the behest of the Deputy President, against senior named public servants whom Mr Gaitho helpfully referenced as ‘powerful figures from Central Kenya’.

The thrust of his offensive opinion is that the Deputy President is actually waging war against the President through proxy. That is why he lined his ducks in nice little ethnic rows: Kalenjin versus Kikuyu, with the expectation that the hackles of respective bases would be raised, and an all-out conflict will subsequently consume the Jubilee Alliance.

I write to protest against this cavalier attitude to facts. First of all, as far as I can determine, Mr Alfred Keter purports to protest corruption in relation to the standard gauge railway project, and disenchantment with the tribal ratios in public sector appointments.
 


It is clear that ignorance of pertinent facts is a key component of this agitation. On the other hand, Mr Charles Keter was outraged that certain folk who actively connived in the subornation of perjuries against the Deputy President with regard to the ICC continue to serve at the heart of power.

I can speak well for myself. Essentially, I predicted that the government would have to shed certain obstructive elements and dismantle powerful networks of corrupt civil servants. I identified constitutional implementation and devolution as the most prone to these malevolent operatives.

When I wrote that much-discussed opinion, I was alive to repeated observations in the public domain, and even referred to undisputed utterances of the President. I did not refer to any particular officer by name. Yet Mr Gaitho confidently divines the identities of people he deems to be “powerful figures from Central Kenya” as the targets of my article.

I am thoroughly insulted by the insinuation that I operate as an appendage of some ethnic cabal, and scandalised by the suggestion that the Kenyan presidency has been reduced to a kleptomanic, tribal ‘tu quoque’ clamouring to bleed the Exchequer.

Why has Mr Gaitho closed his eyes to blinding realities: that corrupt, obstructive and malignant networks of high-ranking civil servants exist, and that sooner rather than later, they will have to go?

When he observes that “no heads have rolled since, and that might be because those in Mr Ruto’s crosshairs are not a motley bunch of bureaucrats”, doesn’t Mr Gaitho confirm that there exists a powerful network labouring under a form of impunity and entitlement? Does he not scoff at the need for the President to receive impeccable advice?

Look at the Dida debacle — it most certainly is a product of wilful sabotage or blithe incompetence. Apparently, pointing this out is antagonising the President, or letting cats out of bags. Are negligent public officers now going to use the President as a human shield?

Ironically, the paper that carried Mr Gaitho’s opinion also reported CIC chairman Charles Nyachae warning about conspiracies to sabotage devolution from within government. He clarified that this conspiracy does not extend to the presidency. Shall we also say that Mr Nyachae is after ‘powerful figures from Central Kenya’?

The piece strains to present a prognosis of an ailing governing alliance, but the truth is that it is a bellwether of impending Executive moves with regard to corrupt networks. Through Mr Gaitho, these reptiles, presently hibernating in fear, wish to know whether it is safe to rear their heads and slither back into action.

Entitlement breeds a certain obtuseness. It is a characteristic of entrenched impunity to presume that hide-and-seek with lawful authority is legitimate engagement. It is its nature to utterly forget that corruption is not a dimension of public service, and that Kenyans are more discerning than they are given credit for.

That is why facile tribal speculation is canvassed to distract and provide the dysfunctional space that all thieves find indispensable. Believe me, the clique which sneaked ‘national security’ into the Draft Constitution straddles the public service, ready to pounce.

I wish Mr Gaitho had applied his mind more conscientiously in this debate. His obsession to burnish anti-Establishment credentials while attempting to foment ethnic skirmishes is regrettable.

One of the non-negotiable commitments of the Jubilee Alliance is reconciling Kenyans. In the last election, this was endorsed, when the fragile and often volatile Rift-Valley/Central Kenya divide was firmly bridged. The plan is to bring all the communities of this country together as an indivisible national family.

For an editor of a respected publication to regress into hackneyed tribal categories is a sure sign that addiction to toxic ethnic narratives will often overwhelm the most vocal ‘progressives’.

Mr Gaitho is Kikuyu. I am Kalenjin. President Kenyatta is Kikuyu. Deputy President Ruto is Kalenjin. The powerful figures from Central Kenya, as well as the vocal MPs, also fit within this vile binary. Is that all there is to the discourse on governance, corruption and impunity?

Mr Ng’eno is the director in charge of speech-writing at State House.