15 November, 2009

Who Will Save Kenya from the Napoleons of Corruption?

T S Elliot, a 1948 Nobel Prize winner in Literature wrote a poem titled “Macavity –The Mystery cat.” Macavity was described as having a hidden paw, having the movement of a snake and a criminal who used his intellect to defy the law.

He was bafflement to Scotland Yard and caused constant despair to the Flying Squad; for when they reached the scene of the crime, Macavity was simply not there.

This was suavity and deceitfulness par excellence. He always had an alibi and spared one or two more alibis just in case they came in handy. He was outwardly respectable in spite of being a Napoleon of corruption, the crème de la crème. It was therefore not surprising that his footsteps could not be found in any file of the Scotland Yard.

Today, the fictitious Macavity has acquired life. He is alive and kicking in Kenya. He is not one. There are many. The edacious Macavity are more emboldened in the perpetuation of noxious graft as they are equipped with impunity.

They are often surrounded with the exquisite Harvard legalese. They are not in the same league with the pusillanimous. They are true master minds of crime, the fat cats who supervise the pillaging of public coffers on grand scales.

You have heard the ravenous Macavity spin legal webs in defense of the well executed schemes that led to loss of billions of shillings in the Golden Berg, Anglo leasing, Grand Regency and the porous Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC).

You recently heard of him in the ministry of Youth Affairs, Ministry of water, you have seen him in the Ministry of basic Education (remember the 109 million in a mysterious account?) And now he has surfaced in the Ministry of finance; in the infamous Passat deal. And the list goes on ad infinitum.

It is rumored that all the voracious cats whose wicked deeds are widely known are nothing more than agents of these Napoleons of crime. Are we not almost certain that when the pilferage has taken place blame for the scandal is always heaped on junior officers?

When the subordinates are nabbed, which isn't often, there is no evidence linking the crimes to the masters. The master mind of crime is the mysterious "Macavity” who plans the crimes that lesser criminals execute.

With alacrity unmatched, these master minds in cahoots with senior officers have methodically sealed all the possible avenues for the unraveling of the scandals. Their rendition always almost made us believe that there was no iota of evidence to warrant prosecutions.

Of course you and I were so sure that the Ministerial statements read in parliament in the wake of the scandals were as clear as mud.

Just who will save Kenya from the litany of grand scams; from the avaricious clutches of these Napoleons of corruption?

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