1. EVEN CORRUPTION NEEDS EXPERIENCE
To enter into a new office and begin stealing around, cooking figures, sweeping things under
the carpet, is at times not smart enough. Even juniors will see the trick, and be joyfully
surprised that they can pigeon-hole the new officer. This is not however an attempt to conduct
lessons on thievery, with the intent of opening the “Kenya School of Corruption.” But it pays to
be conversant and well grounded in the theory and practice of being a Big Thief. How naïve
have some of our leaders been thinking they can be swindlers just like that, simply believing in
the crafty craft of graft!.
That simple, run-of-the mill government worker is not called “officer” for nothing. They know
the system and the stages through which a document must pass, know the auditor will snap if
he spots even the slightest variation in the process run. It costs so little to take him seriously,
but it is easy and tempting to dismiss them, seeing their dubious outward appearance and the
potential to double deal.
It is not that the opposition is ganging up to finish off everybody in government. That is a tired
tale. They will not overthrow the government today or tomorrow, even if they look so malicious
and pitiless. It is the system fighting the system. The semi-educated, smooth operator who has
the system at his finger –tips, versus the newly minted blue-eyed elite of the establishment; the
connected one familiar with who is who of the powers that be. They are the antagonists of the
Kenya Public service situation. We soon shall see who gains the upper hand. Already the chosen
ones or elite of the place are nursing a black eye. For that reason an edict has been issued
against anyone who blows the whistle on any government misdeed, a worse crime punishable
by instant sacking. The aborted attempt to change the law so the auditor does not make public
his findings was meant to serve the same purpose. So now what remains is to deny in the press
authenticated reports of the auditor, no matter how shallowly. Where are we heading in this
chaos?
The President, Mr. Uhuru Kenyatta, had no experience whatsoever when he started ruling the
county in March 2013, having been catapulted previously into a ministerial post on abandoning

2. opposition leadership to join government. The same case applies to his deputy William S. Ruto.
They have never been workers, the case of climbing a tree from the top, which requires special
qualities. But Uhuru could be forgiven his sin of omission. There was really no need to work,
being the scion of a former wealth-gatherer president, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta. Not so with Ruto.
The son of a peasant, familiar with gnawing pangs of hunger, poor Ruto defied all odds and
normal practice not engaging in any form of formal work, even though a university graduate.
He simply exploited contacts and connections to powerful people in the system he had
managed to worm himself into, notably former President Daniel arap Moi. Through such
powerful contacts, Ruto managed to live as if he too had inherited wealth, even entering
politics straight from school, a sure recipe for administrative callousness.
What is good for the goose is good for the gander. Somehow the two leaders have been more
at home with the emergent so-called digital young generation administrators than the tried and
tested veterans of the yesteryears. These they have retrenched en masse, as if they are the
disposable obstacles on government way, while the few that are lucky to remain are a
beleaguered lot, gasping for relief, as they are left to operate without the AIE (Authority to
incur Expenses), regular office supplies including computer rolls or photocopy papers. Huge
sums running into billions of dollars are allocated to the ministries at the time of budget
reading, but the funds remain up there with the big bosses. No one sees the trickle down the
administrative ladder as is usually the practice, indeed, the oil that greases the civil service tree.
So mega corruption is only possible up there at the top as no one sees money down the system
that can be embezzled. Uhuru and Ruto have gutted the inner core of government, aided in
doing so by the coincidental availability of the devolved system of governance that has been
put in place. They capitalize on it to let the situation be blamed on devolution, which they did
not support in the first place. To some extent they have succeeded in making many believe that
devolution is the culprit, as if to say we warned you against that system!
Certain aspects of the devolved system have been applied intentionally prematurely to produce
results which make the people disenchanted with the otherwise necessary changes. Doctors
have been forced to quit government hospitals in droves as they have been left at the mercy of

3. unprepared, uninformed local authorities without necessary sustenance from government. The
result is chaos in government hospitals as counties do not have uniform salaries for doctors,
with others showing bias against doctors based on ethnic backgrounds. The system is to
politicized some counties are ready to face the death than hire medics who are not from the
localities. If circumstances force them to hire they subject the “foreigners” to lower pay, hence
the massive exodus. It is only prudent that health services at a certain level should be devolved,
but not at the level of doctors and other senior people, if sanity is to prevail in the system.
Doctors are not alone. Personnel who have not been devolved are left in government bereft of
normal working emoluments in a “take it or leave it” approach to work ethic. Many would have
opted to quit, as it is a better and less acrimonious move. But who will give you your terminal
benefits if you dare do? The government is always without lumpsum for anybody, and people
are ready to suffer in silence waiting for the next regime when it might be clearer to retire
without subjecting oneself to being a beggar.
Then there are those who were offered 5 more years of service after due retirement date. It is
said the offer was not made legally through parliament, and it is easy for the government to
dishonour it and deduct the 5 years service pay from due benefits on attaining age 55. Many
who think that they have some reasonable lumpsum may find themselves in trouble to learn
that for five years they were only drawing from their benefits, which by law are supposed to be
computed on attainment of age 55 and not 60.
As such schemes are placed under consideration most ministries have trouble with the auditor-
general for financial mismanagement. In the National Youth Service saga the minister could not
resign allegedly because the matter was hijacked by the opposition for cashing in on. But what
about the revelations from the auditor-general Mr. Edward Ouko, showing the parent ministry
of Devolution and Planning to be even more corrupt, having lost even more money in shady
deals? But the government is living is denial all through and the minister concerned cannot step
aside even for a day to allow for genuine investigations to take place.
At least at the NYS they used some clever tricks, like importing goods through the al-Shabaab
port of Kismayu. No auditor with blood running in his veins would dare go to Kismayu, looking

4. for details about cargo landing and handling bills, transit expenses and the like. So nobody can
be sure goods were imported or air for that matter.
The NYs and the ministry of devolution and planning are just a tip of the ice-berg. It is estimated
that Sh. 500 billion is lost to corruption and related practices like ghost workers every year. But
a time is coming in the not too distant future when the beast of burden will snap. Whether we
would reach the year 2017 economically intact and breathing, has been a matter of debate
always. Only God can help us.
By:
FREDERICK OWINO OYARO
Email: frederickoyaro@gmail.com