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{
    "id": 950265,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/950265/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 156,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Saku, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon Ali Rasso",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13473,
        "legal_name": "Dido Ali Raso",
        "slug": "dido-ali-raso"
    },
    "content": " I rise to contribute to this Bill by Hon. Nyoro. Hon. Nyoro in his Bill, is asking for stiffer penalties in the fight against corruption. Hon. Members who have contributed before me have emphasised how corruption has become a bane in Kenya. It has affected the economy, trade, business and welfare of the nation to the extent that we are told that almost 30 per cent of this country’s budget goes into this dark hole called corruption. We see the fight against corruption as the domain of the EACC, but this is far from the truth. If we must fight corruption, the Kenyan nation must address itself to the whole issue that this is a problem that affects all of us in all facets of life and there must be some collectivism on how we address it. Since we have had the new CEO, Major Mbarak, and the Bishop as the Chairman of the Commission, there is some element of sanity particularly in the EACC where we do not hear the infighting that used to be there before. It is strange to have a good combination between a former soldier and a former churchman. Maybe the combination is good. We need to understand the chemistry in the fullness of time. Importantly, whereas they can do a good job, it calls for national effort. The laws and courts will not define the character of this nation in the fight against corruption. In the Kenyan culture, you must get rich quickly and have a lot of money to be recognised. Nobody really cares sometimes how you make that money. If you do not have enough money or if you are not a rich person, you will not sit at the table. This is the character that we must begin to deconstruct. If all our lives are about money, then there is something wrong in the psyche of our country. Hon. Nyoro’s thrust in this is in the area of punishment and legislation. Whereas I agree with that point to an extent, that in itself will not be a solution to the fight against corruption. We must begin to tie it down from the ground with what a young child in primary school, a boy or girl in college or university, understand in terms of hard work and gainful employment. You get what you work for. You earn from your sweat. The idea of people getting money whose sources are suspect is in itself the reason we have runaway corruption. We have also gone into unchartered waters in the fight against corruption in the recent months. We have governors who have been legitimately elected by the people of this country and told by the courts to step aside. The courts in their wisdom feel that those individuals should stay aside. The important thing that we must ask ourselves in this House is whether that would be the best way to move this nation forward. Would that be the best way to fight corruption? We live in a country of tribes - the big tribes and the small tribes - and there are tribes which are unknown because they have few people. We must move away from the idea of putting a face to a tribe when it comes to fight against corruption. Corruption is corruption. It does not matter who is involved in it."
}