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{
    "id": 948956,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/948956/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 151,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kinangop, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Zachary Thuku",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13380,
        "legal_name": "Zachary Kwenya Thuku",
        "slug": "zachary-kwenya-thuku"
    },
    "content": "On the same breadth, the Speaker rightly put it that we are putting a lot of energy on corruption and that gives us negative energy and, maybe, the impact may not be as much. What we should address, instead, is what this corruption that we keep on talking about is. What comes to our mind first? If we are not able to address that from the word go, we will never get it right and we shall never slay the dragon called corruption. We must talk of ethics because that is where it starts. A national or international establishment may not be a solution. From where I sit, I envisage a situation whereby the attendees of training in such academies will be top notch government officers so that once they occupy those offices, they do what they are supposed to do to avoid corruption. Now, this has to be inculcated in our society from a young age because corruption starts when a child gets the realisation of who they are. They grow up knowing that there must be an exchange for anything that they do because corruption is multifaceted. It could be white collar theft or anything that is seen to be of corrupt morals. The only way we can then deal with this, is having a curriculum that is kind of geared towards building good morals in our children so that, even when they grow up, they will know how to behave instead of having a situation whereby we have so many “do nots.” “Do nots” will not help this country. But instilling good morals in our young children and teachers who teach those children will be the only way to go. Therefore, as we support an academy that is going to be of international standing - because corruption is becoming an international phenomenon - we must address ourselves as a country and start thinking of ways and means of dealing with this monster. In a country like Kenya, for example, where our business is to arrest and take people to court, take them through the judicial process and charge them without really addressing the core reasons, the question that lingers in my mind is this: Why then is it that we are having this challenge over and over again? Everybody who is occupying a public office, their business is one – to get rich quickly. With that mentality, we must then ask ourselves: “Where did the rain start beating us?” We need to know so that we can address ourselves based on where we are coming from. No amount of top-bottom initiative will solve the menace that we are in already. Our current predicament is as a result of so many things. We celebrate people who have stolen; who have amassed wealth through corrupt means. We give them positions and we adore and make them feel like they are heroes. Therefore, with such scenario, our children will look up to them and form an opinion that the best way to get rich is by practice of financial impropriety, unfaithfulness – it is just stealing – and see as if it is a very good thing. As much as we would want to think that having an international academy that is dealing with issues to do with corruption… To teach people issues to do with corruption is a good thing. It will be a song that will be losing taste because we have heard this over and over again. Yet, we do not seem to be overcoming it. The only way to win this war on corruption and have a society which is above reproach is by going back to the basics from birth – kindergartens, high schools and universities. We must teach ethics. That is the only way to go. With those many remarks, I wish to support and say the same, maybe, it should not just be national. It should be cascaded down to the constituencies and later to our locations and finally every school would have a curriculum where ethics will be taught so that we can then slay the dragon of corruption. I wish to support."
}