The Devolution Forum Speaks on Corruption in Government

The Devolution Forum (TDF), a multi-sectoral alliance convened by civil society, to bring together like-minded networks, organizations and individuals united for the promotion and protection of devolution and its implementation as enshrined in the Constitution of Kenya 2010, has cautioned agains the dangers of the return of mega corruption in Kenya.

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The Forum says within the last two years since Jubilee Coalition came  been in power, the country has witnessed a return of corruption to levels that are comparable only to Kenya’s one-party era, when corruption was part of the everyday experience of citizens.

The Forum officials said at a Press conference in Nairobi on March 20, 2015 that within the last two years, corruption network had regrouped and were fighting with vengeance.

"Most of them (corruption scandal) involve unbelievably large sums of money that would otherwise have gone into critically needed public services, others implicate public officials, like members of the IEBC, in whom the public expects unquestionable integrity but who now find themselves embroiled in scandals. Worse still, corruption scandals now also implicate the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), constitutional mechanism set up to lead the war on corruption, leaving the question as to who the country can now turn to in the fight against corruption", the forum said in a statement.

The statment went on: "Under Jubilee, old arguments once used to justify mega-corruption have resurfaced and are being used for the same purpose. The Anglo-Leasing scandal, that affects three presidents, including the current president, was justified on the grounds that the contracts in question were necessary to secure the country from acts of terrorism.

The unprecedented insecurity that the country has faced in the last two years makes it clear that this argument was false when it was first made, and remains false today. Yet, it is the argument that is at the heart of the increasingly unaccountable relationship between the Kenya government and Safaricom, a company that set out to provide mobile telephony but which is now held out as a provider of security solutions, in contracts that have been awarded through single sourcing and at prices Safaricom determines".

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TDF warned that "the entry of Chinese companies on the Kenyan corruption scene has significantly reduced the possibility of accountability because these companies are prepared to pad kickbacks into contract prices, which is what explains the pricing variations witnessed during the Jubilee era".

The forum warned that citizens will not watch silently as these scandals take place and cited increasing citizens actions becuae there was complicity and inertia by the authorities, to whom they should turn for help.

"The heroic response by children of Langata Primary School represents a situation where the authorities refused to act, until children acted. In other situations, like the Standard Gauge Railway, the authorities have ignored the questions raised by citizens, in a show of contempt that is reminiscent of an era Kenya is emerging from".

The forum pointed out that where authorities had purported to prosecute, like the Anglo Leasing scandal, these prosecutions had been half-hearted and selective, with the authorities producing evidence discrediting the EACC, as a diversionary tactic aimed at undermining the prosecution.

The Forum noted that the EACC was now mortally wounded by credible allegations of corruption against not only the commissioners but also senior members of staff.

TDF has demanded the immediate resignation of the EACC led by its chair, Mumo Matemu and the other commissioners; the immediate cancellation of all the questionable contracts that Jubilee has awarded, including the standard gauge railway and the Safaricom/Hauwei contracts for the provision of security services; and a public disclosure of the shareholders of the “Chinese” company Pang, which has been at the forefront of the digital migration scandal.

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The Forum also demand that President Uhuru Kenyatta address the country within seven days, on what he proposedto do to address the runaway corruption that has engulfed his government or else "we shall begin a public mobilization for direct citizen action to address the problem of corruption in the country".

The statment by the lobby group said the president "must undertake to convene a national conference that will provide an inclusive platform for discussions on how to reconstitute the EACC, and also how to bring accountability for the corruption scandals that have come to light since Jubilee came to office".

Jubilee's Majority leader in the National Assembly Aden Duale has already dismissed the lobby groups demands claiming the forum had not authority to give an "ultimatum" to the president.