CORRUPTION
Corruption is a chronic disease that affects many people the world over. This is more pronounced in the developing nations than in the developed world because the developed world has systems that punish corruption.
In Kenya, statistics paint a grim picture of a nation that is grappling with graft. Our president was quoted saying that daily, the nation loses more than two billion shillings (US$20M) to corruption. That is a whooping Kshs. 730 billion annually. His cabinet secretary for Finance said that the nation loses more than half of the amount in the budget through graft. It sounds funny that a nation could budget for corruption! The fun ends when you realize that the budget is funded from external sources. It is important to notice that we have taken this seriously, and have a commission that has the war on graft as its mandate. Our constitution too has in no uncertain terms spoken against graft.
I did a casual survey in which I asked the question: will corruption ever end in this nation? Many respondents said no, unless..... . Then came the billion dollar question: is corruption a bad thing? The answer was yes, except....
Many people feel that corruption is bad, except when they are the recipients. They kind of lay blame on the system that puts a lot of cash in the hands of individuals who cannot be monitored. And the best way to eradicate corruption is through prompt prosecution. They quickly add that the prosecuting agencies are products of corruption and, therefore, because they live in glass houses, they may not be so quick to throw stones.
So, how do we end corruption in this nation? The choice of leaders could be the missing link. We need to choose our leaders wisely.
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