President Mwai Kibaki (second left) lifts up Kenya's new Constitution at
Uhuru Park in Nairobi on August 27, 2010. FILE PHOTO | TONY KARUMBA |
AFP
Were it not for the absence of snow, anyone visiting the country would be forgiven for thinking Kenya is now Switzerland.
Except
for malicious gossips who hate success, everyone can see that within
five short years of living under the Constitution of Kenya, 2010, the
leadership landscape has changed dramatically.
Thanks
to Chapter Six of the Constitution, a key State organ is led by a man
who was acquitted of extortion and bribery charges while another is led
by an individual an international court could not muster evidence to try
for crimes against humanity.
Both are renowned for
regularly bringing honour to the nation and dignity to their offices —
in word and deed — as decreed by constitutional writ.
So
high is the threshold set for integrity in leadership that the first
commission responsible for ethics, and anti-corruption has been
constituted, thanked for its service, and disbanded.
The
handmaiden of Kenya’s newfound integrity in leadership is the National
Assembly, which has not only passed laws to keep bad people out of good
public offices but has also vetted Cabinet secretaries, principal
secretaries, members of independent commissions and holders of
independent offices.
PUBLIC CONFESSIONS
Even
though five of the 18 Cabinet secretaries vetted by the National
Assembly have had to leave office temporarily over corruption
allegations, it is only a matter of time before all of them prove the
claims against them as false and malicious.
The
National Assembly has valiantly offered itself as a paragon of integrity
in investigating corruption in confidential security expenditure;
procurement questions in the Judiciary; mismanagement of Mumias Sugar
Company; and the hiring of a jet for the Deputy President’s diplomatic
forays into West Africa.
Such is its probity that the
Public Accounts Committee has held public confessions on how bent
individuals unsuccessfully tried to influence its reports.
In
the normal course of duty, the National Assembly has paid off the
long-standing debt to Anglo-Leasing and Finance Company for the supply
of a forensic laboratory, examined the independence of the police,
extended the vetting of judicial officers, expected to be concluded in
12 months, into its fourth year.
Taking the cue, the
commission that organises elections has gone vegetarian following unfair
accusations of chicken-eating in the purchase of ballot papers.
SELFLESS SERVICE
Public
officers are making decisions objectively and impartially free from
nepotism, favouritism, other improper motives or corrupt practices.
Every
day public officials report to work, their only desire is to offer
selfless service through honesty and declaration of conflicts of
interest. Rumours about spending Sh1.7 billion on the wages of ghost
workers have been conjured out of thin air to injure the country’s
reputation as a model African nation.
The end of
corruption has sent naysayers on a desperate search for scandal in the
enterprises of legitimate investors delivering laptops for schools,
building the standard gauge railway, drilling for geothermal energy,
supplying CCTV security equipment, mining coal and upgrading airports.
They
have beef with the electoral commission spending billions of shillings
to buy biometric voter registration kits that did not work and now
insist on smearing scandal over the legitimate acquisition of land and
have dug into gutters already cleaned by the National Youth Service for
scandal, sinking into sewers to fish for political mischief.
Each
time, they have come up empty. Fortunately, the Director of Public
Prosecutions relies only on solid evidence rather than political vapour.
kwamchetsi@formandcontent.co.ke
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