CORRUPTION – A SELF DESIGN TO EARLY DEATH AND EVIL IN ITSELF:If John the Baptist were alive today and two babies were brought before him … one named “corruption” and the other one “lobbyist” then given a chance to choose a suitable name for each, he would certainly give them one common name “Bribery”.
Though I wanted to dwell scantly on corruption in Kenya, let me be a bit irrelevant for a reason and briefly take a look at something similar to corruption but somehow done in a more noble and professional manner.
All the same I will not be in style singing the “wondrous story of the Christ who died for us”, for I will be talking of the same thing but in a more glorified manner.
In America Lobbying is described as “paid activity in which “special interests” hire well-connected professional advocates, often lawyers, to argue for specific legislation in order to influence decision-making bodies such as the United States Congress”.
If you can look at lobbying more closely, it is no different from a legalized bribe machination scheme, but lingo jargon(sic) words are used to make it appear as a legitimate business.
However America has subjected lobbying to complex rules which, if not followed, can lead to penalties including jail term and thus it is constitutionally protected.
The number of lobbyists groups in Washington DC alone, are estimated to be over twelve thousand. The majority of them handle billions of dollars especially during campaign periods.
Lobbying rules require extensive disclosure, and a lot of controls as to how much capital each candidate can raise and spend during the campaign period.
The current pattern in America suggests that much lobbying is done primarily by corporations, although a wide variety of coalitions representing diverse groups also occurs.
Lobbying takes place at every level of government, including federal, state, county, municipal, and even local governments.
If a huge manufacturing firm intends to invest in America and the venture contravenes existing legislation restrictions, it must use the lobbyist to influence and convince the Congress the need for such a venture and a lot of dollars will in effect be exchanged to pass certain regulations.
As long as the firm investing uses lobbyist, it becomes official in a way and with that scenario in mind, we now shift to Africa where investors do not go through lobbyist for in the first instance, they don’t exist but instead, they will use well connected and influential (in most cases high handedness) individuals in the Government to facilitate the venture.
Obama may also have seen lobbyist and special interest parties as corrupt, or bribe masters when he had vowed to wipe them out from DC, but little did he know that he had touched a monster nerve, for he never even went far with it as it was shelved and forgotten, the moment he stepped his feet at the white house
That is maybe as far as corruption can go in America, and the same not affecting the common people as the word bribe, in all other forms does not occur as direct and frequent as it is in developing or underdeveloped countries.
If money is exchanged for some favor to be done to an individual in America, it is simply a bribe and the same is taken very serious for it will definitely lead to convictions and lengthy jail term.
In Kenya things are done differently as in most cases, corrupt people happen to be senior government officials assisted by poor people (who gets just little benefits) and thus making it extremely hard to wipe out corruption completely in Kenya.
It then becomes like a style or a way of life that is passed on from one generation to the next as the majority of the rich people in Kenya got their wealth mostly through corruption.
Let us start from the basics to define the word bribe.
A simple definition of a “bribe” is when money is exchanged to facilitate or to prevent something that do not necessarily require monetary exchange for the same to happen.
A good example is when you apply for a passport and pay the official the exact amount required and then you realize that the same may take a longer time to be processed ….you then decide to pay the worker some extra money to speed up the process….That in itself is bribing directly.
The person receiving the bribe is corrupt for in the first place, he or she is not supposed to receive any monetary consideration for a service they are paid to perform by the Government.
Then if lobbying is done in America, then the question is ,….can Kenya legalize individuals to get kickbacks in order to facilitate new investment ventures in the country?
In my opinion, the answer is NO as the Government can use legally established big consulting firms or corporations to negotiate on their behalf.
If individuals in those corporations and consulting firms, take kickbacks as is the trend now, then the government should outright convict the culprits and punish them as per the law.
Kick back is just evil for the same is eventually added to the loan and hence passed on to tax payers to continue being enslaved forever by huge loans.
Corruption did not surface during Uhuru’s Presidential term for the evil almost started the moment the Union Jack flag was lowered down when all in a way said, “Kenyatta has killed a big elephant and there is enough for everyone to eat”.
And just like said, the eating commenced the moment individuals started allocating themselves vast Government trust lands and thereafter scandals though not to large proportions were set in motion.
During President Moi’s error (sic), a lot of mega scandals also took place and the biggest of them all was the Goldenberg scandal that was so well devised that it took the government a long time to discover the rot taking place.
“The Goldenberg scandal was a political scandal where the Kenyan government was found to have subsidized exports of gold far beyond standard arrangements during the 1990’s, by paying the company Goldenberg International 35% more (in Kenyan shillings) than their foreign currency earnings”.
Surprisingly, the scandal was carried out by sharp and bright individuals and unlike nowadays when you hear of insignificant semi-elite people getting rich overnight and thereafter hurriedly investing back in their villages, the Goldenberg masterminds used the ill gotten proceeds to realize real estate capital investments.
It was the years that Uhuru highway developments surfaced and skyscrapers one after the other were constructed as though in a hurry.
Then many can justify corruption if the same is done by upright thinking people assisted by crooks in the Government to bring forthwith developments but the answer is a big NO for the same make institutions meant to sustain the Kenyan economy to go bankrupt.
Government vital developments are shelved for after misappropriating the funds meant for infrastructure, no corrupt individual will construct a bridge, a hospital or a road but rather, individual mansions, white elephants projects located in strange localities that are not even accessible during bad weather.
Corrupt individuals mostly target government land meant for institutions, forests or recreations and all they think about is putting up a residential complex to only later realize that the sewer connection, electricity and safe drinking water are not within reach.
This happens when the government appoints weak and corrupt people to head institutions meant to carry out developments that directly benefits the common man.
The government or rather the top people eventually become part and parcel of the corrupt dealings in order to get rich in a hurry.
Thereafter driven by greed, predominance, bribery, Government patronage, impunity and high handedness, they start enjoying corruption and eventually begin to make it appear (a la mode) as if it is a way of life.
The saddest part begins when the same individuals are not lucky as they thought for the stealing culture is further passed on to immediate family members.
Yes it will be extended to their families and whoever said that we are masters of our own fate had corruption in mind for it can lead to many evil things associated with it like broken marriages, crime, suicide, deceases, moral degradation, and many other ills that can really affect many people’s lifestyle.
After the corrupt deals are done by those that are entrusted to lead the youth with examples, they entirely forget that they too have children who will eventually copy them.
They will later realize that while they were busy stealing, they never had enough quality time with their children.
They will then try to make them happy but in the process, they do the greatest mistake by giving them lots of money without realizing that, they are leading them to an early death.
Here we are not talking of bed time folklore giant stories but we are talking of something more substantial, the love of being together with the family so that you can guide them on how to be role models of society.
The love of keeping the family intact so that family members are self reliant and responsible in life to easily be in control to take over, when the old man’s time to leave this world finally comes.
The corrupt people don’t do that and to compensate for the love lost and failed fatherly love and guidance, they start giving their children lots of money to enjoy in nightclubs without knowing that the same is a recipe to disaster.
The nouveau riche parvenu suddenly super league drunken and drug-taking roast meat and beer lover products start roaming the country with shinny expensive automobiles while looking for happiness they will never find.
After a few years due to excessive money, they end up with no clear directions or purpose in life and thereafter calamity after calamity start striking.
Coupled with depression, lack of insight, failed ambitions and somehow static in thinking, they will soon give up pursuing their dreams and aspiration (if they had any) and only to end up as useless psychotic beings.
The poor envying the rich not aware that they are admiring the people that misappropriated the money that was meant to uplift their standards of living is a sad scene to witness.
The super league, the petty bourgeoisies and the proletariats intermingling in the same country and even shaking hands in funerals, weddings and churches is an insult in itself.
The insults do not end there for they will later meet in rare occasions during campaign period and the majority poor people happily voting for the same people back to power is a tale of hopelessness and total despair.
George Orwell may have envisaged a similar scenario like in Kenya when he was writing his book “The animal firm”
Yes the poor are only used by the same corrupt people during campaigns by merely buying them a meal meant for only giving them just enough energy to echo meaningless tialala(sic) slogans but little else.
The poor will then vote back the very same people that will continue oppressing them and in a way further endorsing corruption.
The rich will thereafter as usual embark on their evil lifestyle of stealing, the minute they get appointed to start heading those Government corporations.
The happiness the rich enjoys however is short lived for after stealing the funds that were meant for maintaining the roads that they too often use on a daily basis, they certainly become victims of nauseating horrific tragic road accidents.
The wicked, (without even mentioning their very own) will eventually die too soon in horrible flick inglorious accidents while accompanied by beautiful slay queens(sic) and sadly perish earlier than expected.
Yes they will eventually be turned into matter itself or if lucky end up as cripples and never again to have any other chance of realizing the essence of the earlier imagined good life.
Here were are not saying that poor people don’t die, but they too sadly become part of the designed death triangle puzzle due to the prevailing conditions all brought about by corruption for many will perish on roads full of potholes just because the funds meant for such development were misappropriated.
Yes the evils of death by design will affect all in the country for many will become victims of the death triangle puzzle which is a product of corruption.
A worse situation still, is to imagine that many will become victims of criminals who are as a result of society moral disintegration.
After doing heinous crimes against humanity criminals will easily get away with any of them (murder included) by simply bribing the corrupt judges.
Many however are dying or will die or died while clutching their wallets not willing to bulge to their demands making life at times appear confusing as evil people in a way live longer than the righteous.
While still others dying due to poorly designed collapsing buildings constructed in a hurry and the same owned by people with no upright moral sense and in most cases, funds used to construct the said death dens are from corrupt deals.
The poor many, many, years later using the remains of the victims (fossils ) by then converted to diesel form as they struggle to get to work in congested public transport, is a sick irony and a clear indication of how useless the end becomes.
That is something the rich cannot conceptualize as they oppress and steal money meant to improve the standard of living of the poor for if they did, their pride would cease and not even steal from those institutions.
The few mean rich without any moral sense briefly enjoy their ill-gotten riches and the end does not justify their eventual natural death at times for they ought to have deserved a harsher death.
The rich get involved in accidents and are ironically rescued by the less fortunate poor.
The poor will at that time steal from the injured the very money that was stolen from them, which in itself is an indication of revenge and sheer hopelessness.
Many are now saying that death can occur to anyone but most of the deaths other than natural ones happen on the roads and not forgetting collapsing buildings that are as a result of corruption when influential owners bribe their way to avoid approvals and inspections.
If the money meant for improvement of the roads is not misappropriated, we can reduce death on roads by ensuring that high standards are achieved and the same thing also applies to public buildings.
The government should therefore ruthlessly deal with corrupt individuals but it gets worse and complicated when the rot has even spread to the common man that see it as a way of life, ….it becomes an effort in futility just like a doctor trying to treat advance form of leprosy with Vaseline.
We should all the same, not give up on the war against corruption, as it is an evil that needs a combined effort.
The fight AGAINST corruption is for our own good as the civilized world may be rejoicing when there is genocide and destructions of natural forests for the end results are potential fossils that will guarantee continued future source of the much needed gas and diesel.
By all and any means necessary, do not make Africa to be a fossil dumping continent for future use BUT if you don’t stop corruption, it may happen.
President Uhuru has indicated his seriousness in wiping out the menace once and for all.
Who knows? … he may be having some special abilities or Gods calling to convince the many corrupt people to believe in themselves, to earnestly tie that will and credence to the ideals that shape the destiny of man.
They all must not simply assume or imagine, but to have sincere hope that together united, and determined, we can fight the monstrous corruption.
In those rare instances when such an astute no nonsense, able leader comes along and more so willing to lead by example, we need to put aside our differences and do what we know is POSSIBLE.
Yes we all must wake up and stop the menace or else, we are shaping and designing our premature tragic end which is avoidable.
We fail because we do not try.
Isaac Kinungi
President
Kenya Parents In USA
