Ruto Is Walking The Talk In His Pledge To Slay The Dragon Of Corruption

By: Joseph Mutua Ndonga 

Worth Noting:

• It is worth to recall during the 2022 presidential election campaigns, the Azimio La Umoja One Kenya Coalition brigade depicted Kenya Kwanza presidential candidate Dr William Ruto as a person ‘who did not believe in the war against corruption’.
• Dr Ruto would always hit back. My competitors are envious of my growing popularity across the country. They know I will defeat them and that is why they are targeting me with fake stories. As you are aware, I have been challenging them to prove their claims and take me to court if they have evidence. None of them will dare to do this because they know they were lying.

A few days ago, the principal magistrate of the Anti-Corruption Court delivered a landmark ruling.

For the first time since the promulgation of the 2010 constitution that created the 47 devolved governments, former Sumburu county governor Moses Lenolkul was found guilty of corruption charges and convicted.

The governor and his proxy will each spend eight years in prison. The magistrate however gave them an option of each paying a fine of Sh83 million.

The eight chief officers who served in Lenolkul’s administration were each sentenced to four years or pay a fine of Sh700,000.

The Magistrate rightly noted. Corruption has become a cancerous disease in this country. It was ruining our economy at a high speed. This explains why I have come up with deterrent measures in this case.

It is worth to recall during the 2022 presidential election campaigns, the Azimio La Umoja One Kenya Coalition brigade depicted Kenya Kwanza presidential candidate Dr William Ruto as a person ‘who did not believe in the war against corruption’.

Dr Ruto would always hit back. My competitors are envious of my growing popularity across the country. They know I will defeat them and that is why they are targeting me with fake stories. As you are aware, I have been challenging them to prove their claims and take me to court if they have evidence. None of them will dare to do this because they know they were lying.

At the time, the ‘handshake’ government was at the helm of power. A number of corruption cases facing governors were pending in various courts.

President Uhuru Kenyatta left before anyone of them being convicted.

After he assumed office, President William started firing warnings to corrupt riddled state officials that their days were numbered. In this war, there will be no sacred cows and very soon you will start to see heads rolling.

This reminded me of when the devolved governments were introduced in Nigeria, the pioneer governors thought it was the time to eat.

While behaving like ‘mini presidents’, many of them embarked on an orgy of massive looting, wastage and mismanagement of taxpayers’ money.

The public bore the greatest brunt. The actions of thier governors drastically hampered the provisions of the critical services and rolling out of meaningful development projects that would turnaround and better thier lives.

During the campaigns, they had made a lofty promises. It turns out that this was just a political card aimed at luring us to vote for them.

In the meantime, the President of Nigeria at the time kept warning these governors to shun the vice, failure to which they will face the full force of law.

As the President, I have a constitutional duty to protect the public funds and other resources.

So I will not sit and watch you sabotage and run down our economy.

Your days are numbered. You owes it to the public to account for every penny of the funds that had been allocated to your respective devolved units.

Half of them, who failed to respond to the audit queries, were arrested and charged in various courts. They were found guilty and locked up in jails without an option of fine.

In Kenya, the story is the same. Though no conviction has ever been secured, the vice had permeated the core of the devolved units.

Since the 2010 constitution birthed the devolved units , a number of the current and former governors were on the spotlight.

Some had already been arraigned in courts after the anti-graft bodies concluded the Investigations.

We would only be treated to a drama when each was having a day in court.

After this appearance, the county CEO would be let off the hook by being released on a bond or a cash bail.

The county governments started operating during the reign of President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Any time Uhuru pointed accusing finger at the governors, they would always hit back.

You have no constitutional power to tell us to quit. We were elected by the people the same way as you. It is only people who can remove us from the office. This is after five years when we shall go back to seek fresh mandate from them.

Again, you have no power to investigate leave alone prosecuting anyone of us.

This power is vested in the hands of independent offices created by the constitution.

This would leave Kenyans with many questions. Where did we go wrong? Did we fail to interrogate the draft constitution and pass it blindly during the referendum?

This is because the governors seems to be untouchable and were behaving like ‘small god’.

As such, this makes the president we elected to look like a toothless bulldog.

The other day the leadership of the 47 county governments in Kenya convened the eighth Devolution Conference that coincided with the marking of 10 years since the devolved units were established.

In his opening remarks, President William Ruto minced no word in calling on the governors to shun corruption, wastage and mismanagement of public resources.

I will not sit down and watch you engage in this vice at the expense of meeting the public expectations.

Kenyans want development projects and provisions of the services that would better their lives. That is why they elected you.

If your business now is stealing, then you are not worth to be called leaders and the law will follow its course.

As we know, the President took the oath office to manage and protect public resources of all Kenyans.

These resources must be spent prudently and in accordance with the provisions of the constitution and other laws that governs public financial management.

So, will President Ruto succeed from where his predecessor failed?

For me, I think he will. First, the law is on his side. He is the overall CEO of this whole nation.

So he has a responsibility to safeguard the interests of all Kenyans.

As a governor, you have no legal power to tell him not to pursue you when you commit a crime. The constitution only shields the President from being prosecuted during his or her tenure in office.

It is true the President will not come for you (governor) directly.

He is however entitled to call on the investigative arms and the judiciary to pull up thier socks and take action against you. This is because the buck stops with him if the country goes into the wrong direction.

The other reason is. Dr Ruto is a decisive hands-on President. So you would not expect him to throw up his hands and ask ‘what do you want me to do’.

Former President Uhuru had at one time surprised Kenyans when he posed that question.

This was during a meeting held at State House that brought together heads of anti-graft bodies and security agencies.

The public reactions was swift and many Kenyans observed. You have heard what the President has said. We are now on our own. Our fate now lies in the hands of God.

As I conclude, allow me to say this. The corrupt riddled governors were taking advantage of the Constitution and Judiciary to shield themselves. I therefore support the position of those saying that we need to review and amend some provisions of the constitution.

Joseph Mutua Ndonga is a writer and political analyst based in Nairobi

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About the Author

Joseph Mutua Ndonga

Joseph Mutua Ndonga is a Writer and Political Analyst based in Nairobi

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