Committees are not the answer to ending graft

Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi says the government will set up anti-corruption committees to be chaired by Principal Secretaries. This was informed by the National Ethics and Corruption Survey 2023 report prepared by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) detailing how deep corruption runs in this country. 

Indeed, corruption continues to be the Achilles' heel of successive governments in Kenya. A lot has been done to fight corruption, but it just won't go away. Instead, the vice grows from strength to strength every time the government talks tough about ending it. All efforts to fight corruption so far are either wrong, inadequate or simply perfunctory, aimed at managing public expectations. 

There is a need for self-introspection to establish what the government is not doing right, or at what point plans to fight graft fizzle out, to wait for another major scandal before the government sets into motion a flurry of activities to assuage public anger.

The plan Mudavadi alluded to, no doubt, is noble, but it is doubtful that it will achieve much if anything. The committees could duplicate work and trespass on the mandate of EACC. The extra money to be spent by these committees can only worsen the runaway public wage bill at a time when the government is intent on bringing down wasteful expenditure. 

Mechanisms already exist that can be used to kill the ogre of corruption. Internal and external audit reports give details of expenditures, often pointing out where there is wrongdoing. The Auditor-General, especially, does a thorough job, leaving the task of nabbing errant officials to anti-corruption agencies. 

Yet, nothing much ever happens because wars between the EACC and Directorate of Criminal Investigations revolving around who has prosecutorial power and who should do investigations often ensue, creating avenues of escape for culprits. Moreover, there has always been a lack of political goodwill in tackling corruption. Use existing mechanisms to fight graft.