Kenyan politician Martha Karua displays her wealth declaration documents
on January 14, 2013. There are no repercussions for those who do not
declare their wealth nor those in whose cases discrepancies are found.
PHOTO | NMG
In 2002, I remember my father driving me and my younger brother through downtown Nairobi.
My
father loved taking us for long drives around the capital, just taking
in the scenic beauty of the City in the Sun. After our ride, we would
always end up in the CBD, where he would buy us ice cream in this very
old but classic ice cream store on Koinange Street that still stands
today.
There is one particular day that I remember
vividly. As we were passing Uhuru Park and coming into town from
Kenyatta Avenue, we passed a motorcade surrounded by political
supporters chanting, "Rainbow! Rainbow! Rainbow!"
I
always sat at the back as my younger brother sat in the front seat with
my father. I remember being fascinated to see a woman standing in the
sun roof of a moving Prado.
It was Charity Ngilu with
her fist held high! Chanting those very words. Then I saw my father roll
down his window and join in, "Rainbow! Rainbow!" As he drove past the
motorcade, some men ran to his window to shake his hand. A sense of
brotherhood existed among strangers.
I was not yet of
voting age, but I remember wishing I was. That year, Kenya was
officially the most optimistic country in the world. People had taken
charge of their lives.
Like I said, I was too young to
vote, but I remember wishing that I was! It was a time when we as a
people all collectively knew what was best for the country.
Ordinary citizens wanted to get rid of the vice called corruption and for the country to make progress.
President
Mwai Kibaki was voted in on the explicit promise that he would get rid
of corruption. During Kibaki's inauguration, he announced the Public
Officer Ethics Act, which required government employees to declare their
wealth, to deter them from stealing public funds.
The
Act applied to all civil servants, all 660,000 of them. Tanzania and
Uganda only required key positions to fill the declarations. Kenya made
it compulsory for all civil servants including their spouses and
children.
Family affairs
This
made sense; looking at the current scandals, the first business
partners in any quick money venture are close relatives. However, the
fact that this information was not computerised and further had to be
kept for 30 years, meant that storage space quickly became a problem.
In
May 2007, the United Nations awarded Kenya its annual Public Service
Award “for improving transparency, accountability and responsiveness in
the public sector.” Although the Kibaki administration received awards,
including from the World Bank, the Act failed to offer any guidance on
what action should be taken if wrongdoing emerged. Not a single public
officer was prosecuted during President Kibaki's time.
Fast
forward to 16 years later. I have witnessed three other elections and
the rhetoric has remained the same; corruption not only continues to
prevail but appears to be on the rise due to devolution.
The
annual reports by the Auditor General appear more daunting with every
passing year. President Uhuru Kenyatta, surprise, surprise, recently
announced that civil servants will have to declare their wealth.
The
question is, what are the repercussions for those who do not declare
their wealth? What about those in whose cases discrepancies are found?
What
legal actions will be taken against them? What other systems have been
put in place for better tracking and record keeping? As of now, we
appear to be reading from the same script but with a different cast.
Nerima
Wako-Ojiwa is executive director of Siasa Place, a Kenyan political hub
dedicated to mainstreaming youth and women into politics. Twitter:
@Nerimaw
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