Corrpt businesses in Kenya II

| © 2011 Round Square Marketing All rights reserved.1
Corrupt Businesses
Part II: Institutionlising corruption
- a take on the private sector.
Grooming new employees to become
corrupt, how the system works.
What you can do to stiffle corruption in a
corrupt institution... and
The mask was unveiled: How I was
schooled on the realities of my ill-advised
attempts to expose corruption.
consultingcreative campaigns

Let’s suppose you have a business
owner and that business is
founded on or used to getting
things done ‘the Kenyan way’. You
want the business to continue
in your absence and you want
to also serve and protect the
interests of those you do this
sort of things with. This may be
possible for a one-man shop, but
what happens when you have five
or more employees?
You induct them into the system:
you show them the ropes of
doing business ‘the Kenyan way’.
Welcome to part II of corrupt
businesses in Kenyan, private
sector chapter. Today, we shall
look at how business owners
nurture and mentor their
upcoming employees into
becoming corrupt and adapting
to the ‘real values’ of the
company.
The classic case of
grooming.
Textbooks on grooming define its
effectiveness in four stages: first
the catch, then the hook, then
the test-drive, and finally the
climactic shift in values.
Grooming is defined as the
influence of an experienced/older
professional to organically turn
the values of the younger/new,
inexperienced person
Step I: The Catch:
The initial act is banal. Corruption
happens on a daily basis in
Kenya and there is no mystery
to it. However, as a young,
inexperienced person, it’s one
thing to pay off a guard to access
and office or to pay off a police
officer on the road and quite
another to deliberately alter
invoices, quotations, and value
to rob the government or other
businesses and to do this in
partnership with others.
The catch in this case is simple:
set to them to fail. The first
time this happens, it’s quite
painful and the memories
live on. A young/new will do
everything they can to get the
business according to the official
templates. However, this is a
rigged process and there will
be no results. The impact on the
person is usually painful and
discouraging as they try to find
out what went wrong… only to
wake up and realise they were
just ‘not lucky’ or some other
issue.
The first time this happened to
me, I was sent with a team to
document a World Bank project
in Western Kenya at work. At
this time, the project team was
also conducting a review with
the client and the partners
were in attendance. During our
presentation, certain issues were
raised and as the rapporteur, I
briefed the office on the same. The
issues raised by the client were very
small but significant: something
that would be accomplished with a
bit of diligence and teamwork.
However, with a disjointed team
(see part I type of employees);
the office felt that those could be
‘managed’ by simply having the
ground team sign off on the project
so as to force the World Bank’s
hand into paying for it, rather
than spending more time on it. In
the end, the documentation never
happened in that way because of
these obvious shortcomings, and all
the work put in place was in vain.
Now, imagine what happens
when the work requires signing
a deal and someone’s pay and
commissions are dependent
on this? It becomes frustrating,
discouraging and very stressful.
The employee becomes
desperate enough to ‘learn from
others’ and this is when we go
into the next step.

Stage II: The Hook
So once caught up in the murk
of frustration and ignorance
magnified by desperation,
turning or hooking or as we call
it in Kenya,‘kuingiza kwa box’
becomes very easy. [kuigiza kwa
box means putting one in the box
of fixing them.]
The hook is handled like any
other triumph journey where
the experienced person is able
to successfully close the deal or
make trouble disappear. From
here, they start to behave like
miracle workers. Their blanket
hyperbole shows not the
slightest hint of any unethical or
improper conduct nor in some
cases, criminal acts.
They incant words like “working
smart, not hard”,“networks”,
“experience”, and “know-how”, just
to name but a few. Using targets
and deadlines and invoking
the massacre of previously
unsuccessful [former] employees
while name dropping successful
“recruits” who followed the
master’s methods, the hook is
complete. It’s a groomer’s wildest
dream.
With the ground thus prepared,
the new comer is ready to take
test-drive based on the master’s
way. Seriously, you can smell the
admiration from the starry-eyed
recruit from a mile away.
Stage III: The Test-drive
By this time, driven by newfound
hope and confidence as the one
instilled by the experts, it is time
to be given a try. In the current
times when reports suggest that
over 60% of employees go work
and expect or plan to do corrupt
acts, it’s not a novelty.
This test-drive is what newbies
and big businesses have to
take new employees through
in order to test their ability to
‘negotiate’ and keep to terms.
It’s not for everyone. No matter
how prevalent corruption is,
big-business corruption is for a
different league of people. Being
‘trusted’ to conspire to defraud,
steal or lie about millions
of shillings is not as easy as
overstating the expenses for a
meeting. This is a business all on
its own – and one must pass.
I admit, I failed my test drive
and was ridiculed for lacking
“marketing powers” to convince the
procurement/finance to agree to
take up a higher price, which the
CEOs from both companies had
agreed upon. In my very last project
at my former place of work, I was
arranging for a hastily-put training
to happen within a few days and
it’s a deal that involved millions of
shillings.
This was outside my job
description, but I was put upon to
handle this because of a number
of reasons: (a) this was being
using a different company, which
despite the CEO saying had been
bought and was being managed
by different shareholders was not
really part of my job description (b)
because of these circumstances, the
briefcase company as it were, the
CEO needed someone to give it a
face. So, I was that face and having
to peruse through old emails, send

Round Square: Consulting
Solutions
Round Square Marketing Limited Contact
And this is the rest of the story and it’s
at reguar 1Doluptio nsequo ipsa con et
aut porrum voluptiur?
Os quam, cuptasi mendisi nis sundunt
imet modia nihilli cimodio odit
alitatis esenda illuptiat quiam endisci
mporem vitium que con provita di ulles
evel ipsum eniscip sandion seribust
aruptatur?
Ficabor aut ma dia vollantibus pror res
endest, offictibus, officiet quasi cupienda
nus.
And this is the rest of the story and it’s at
reguar 1Doluptio nsequo ipsa con et aut
porrum voluptiur?
aruptatur?
nus.
And this is the rest of the story and it’s
at reguar 1Doluptio nsequo ipsa con et
aut porrum voluptiur?
aruptatur?
nus.
quotations e.t.c e.t.c, it ended up
being a time consuming, waste of
(human) resources as it were.
However, the fishy stench did not
come until were send the quotation
based on the fee structure for
the training sessions and lo and
behold… things got confusing very
fast. An intern and myself had to
navigate these murky waters as
I listened to the CEO telling me
to ‘push down’ the pre-arranged
amount with that organization’s
CEO. At one time, I simply said –
this is not my job; and left it at
that. Of course, the training never
happened. The deal didn’t go
through. That was my last official
thing and it left me so dirty after
getting over the confusion of the
whole mess.
Final Stge: The climactic
shift in values
Under a corrupt management,
employees will eventually
become desensitized to the
effects of corruption and develop
ways to mollify their ethical
or moral concerns. It will not
happen overnight, and it’s not for
everyone.
Those who have to deal with
clients and business development
managers, commercial mangers
and those in sales must simply
develop a ‘thick skin’ to filter the
word corruption. As in the hook
up, they will call it the Kenyan
way, the way business works and
for the cold-blooded ones, it’s
simply being effective. Over time,
this will become the norm; it will
be accepted, talked about and
simply ignored as just the way
things are.
Reacting to corruption incidents
otherwise, in ways that do not
play into the leaders’ hands and
company policy, will be hard. A
freethinker will not last there for
long: the environment is toxic to
the soul and that cloying smell of
ethical decay cannot be washed
out.
The saying, The fish rots from the head applies here. For many years, corruption in Kenya was seen as something that
happened in the Government and public insitutions. After all, the were no ‘known victims.’ However, the lure of big business
and money in dealing with the private sector, it was only normal for corruption to spread in the private sector. While the
same old methods were cultivated, businesses have adapted and created their own means to perpeturate corruption.
#TheSadStateofTheNation

And now, here’s how not
to respond to grooming or
being made to participate
in corruption...
That it is hard to show
restraint or to exist in a corrupt
organization is no excuse for
actively promoting corruption. It
is very hard, at the same, to report
cases on corruption. Everyone
involved in corruption, from
company to clients, to the police
who investigate the matter, to
journalists and politicians, has
an interest in corruption. There is
money, big money, to be made –
the more ‘big and corporate’ it is
carried out, the more money.
We can respond to events in
offices with a quiet and dignified
refusal, working harder and
smarter, when it is impossible to
avoid it, we can choose to ‘seek
help’ from those who’ve taken
that route before.
To downplay something is not to
ignore it. #usetheweaponsyouhave
Corruption serves specific aims,
spreading its tentacles for
opportunistic recruits. If you don’t
present yourself as a possible
convert, you will be left alone.
There is no sensible defence, in a
growing society as ours, against
corruption. In a country where
services are almost at a standstill,
corruption has become a monster
that eats its young and it has
become the altar unto which lazy
and incompetent but cunning,
opportunistic and in some cases
downright evil people sacrifice
production and service delivery
to make an extra coin.
It is greed, pure and simple. A
glutton eating his way to death,
but who cares as long as it tastes
so well on the way going down.
But there is a defence against
its spreading. It is to avoid
desensitization, to show caution
and a measure of courage, not to
promote that its monstrous claws
have no end or limit, creating
public and personal fear to fight
it. Corruption should be not be
so worshiped as it alters our
liberties, values and persecutes
those who do not comply or
agree with it.
Baby, I’ve been here before, I’ve
fought this war and I have broken
these chains... #Hallelujah by J.
Buckley
During the more dangerous and
consistent social movement
against the Moi regime in the
80’s and 90’s campaigns, the
KANU government insisted on
treating those who opposed its
autocracy as unpatriotic criminals,
enemies of the state. They relied
on the police and government
sympathizers to guard against
the threat of freedom of speech,
national peace and ‘Nyayoism’.
All in all, it looked like a monster
that could never be eliminated,
only cuddled and appeased in
silent, painful ways. On the whole,
the voices of one were heard by
another, and within a few years,
millions responded to this voice.
Many died, others were tortured
and exiled, but in the end, Kenya
received its victory.
Those who live under this
freedom know it demands a price,
which is a degree of risk.
Corruption is our second/third
yoke to overcome. It’s become
our jailer, the monster we feed
in the dark waiting to devour us
sooner than later. We know that
it is wrong, but it suits some
people to pretend innocence…
but that does alter the inevitable
drop approach to the cliff we are
driving into.
In my opinion, the threat to
being consumed by corruption
is not the siphoning of billions
of shillings into the pockets of
a few people. It is the danger of
creating an amoral society with
no values on right and wrong
when money is involved and a
spineless generation incapable
of standing against their rights
simply because an opportunistic
parasite with money, media and
menace chooses to drive them to
their own deaths.
This concludes this series of corrupt businesses in Kenya. The #SilentMajority and #TheKenyanCitizen campaign
focused on demystifying and exposing corruption in everyday lives of Kenyans will begin on Friday, 27th May 2016.

Updates...
On Wednesday 20 March
2016, I had another success or
interesting encounter. That day,
I came across the real face of a
psychopathological act: a threat-
evoking, fear-inducing meeting
with my former boss at Garden
City!
I spent 28 minutes in shock as
he tried every possible trick in
the book to cajole, threaten and
eventually forced to declared that
he was protected from people
like myself who’d want to bring
him down. This was in a meeting
he’d called for, asking me to meet
him so that he could pay off my
final dues.
However, after insisting I
shake his hand – because
he’d previously met me and
I refused to do so – he went
ahead to rant about my bad
behaviour, especially for a
pregnant woman(!) and how, he,
the good man he was, wanted
to help me by paying my final
dues. Interesting, he said it was
okay for me to record those
conversations because paying me
off was not to stop ‘my crusade’
against corruption. He said he
was also recording. However, he
was not willing for us to write
down that he was clearing the
bill, which are available in open
court, where he recorded his
statement.
Of course, being who he is, I
predictably told him that he
was not forgiven, because that
meeting had been provoked by
whispers of a media exposure
– to which he told me that he
had (a) a gag order waiting to
be issued and (b) worked on
the team at K24 to make sure
nothing aired! He did not pay the
whole amount. He gave 50,000
shillings and asked to pay on a
weekly basis until it was done.
Predictably, again, he did not turn
up or pay the next payment for
27th March.
Immediately after this meeting, I
went ahead and recorded that I
was being bribed not to expose
corruption; because that money
was not intended to pay my
final dues. It’s no wonder how
the meeting happened. The guy
changed venues three times
and refused to meet me in the
presence of my lawyer. He was
late (as usual); but at least he
allowed me to record this.
I totally understand his position:
his ego was hurt – as he said and
wrote to me – because I refused
to forgive him and to return to
work for him. Most telling, he
was hurt that I did not want to
shake his hand. However, he was
frustrated that, as a woman, I was
fighting him because, as he put it,
he has a daughter and he bought
me a Bible (knowing my views on
religion) and so, I should submit.
In short, he was unable to buy
my soul and that, for a corrupt
person (both in finances and
values) is not something they can
live with.
This is not a personal platform:
but I will say this, I came across
this face and it’s the face that can
destroy and go to great lengths
to avoid exposure. It’s the face
of failure to groom and corrupt
[former] employees. But this is
the path that others have taken
to expose evil and injustice in the
world. It’s dangerous and risky:
but this is what happens when
you are driven from the heart and
unbound by conventions. In the
end,“It’s not how the mountain
trembles, it is how steady one
remains when it does.”

About Round Square Marketing Contacts
Round Square is an experientail market-
ing firm offering consultancy, creative
and campaign solutions for businesses.
We are focused on helping companies,
brands and projects kick-off and offer
speciallised solutions for mobilisation
of funds.
Every year, we take on a campaign
or two on social issues and have so
far worked on non-profit projects on
peace (2013); entrepreneurship (2014);
corruption (2015). Starting April 2014,
we shall be working on more entrepre-
neurship projects to culminate in the
Entrepreneurship Summit in August
2016. Our home page is www.rounds-
quarem.com
This document is produced by consultants at
RSQM as an opinion peace on a social issue.
It is not intended to provide specific advice
on your circumstances.
If you require advice or further details on any
matters referred to, please contact us at
Round Square Marketing or use the author’s
contacts: email/blog/social media.
This document makes descriptive reference
to trademarks that may be owned by others.
The use of such trademarks herein is not an
assertion of ownership of such trademarks
by RSQM and is not intended to represent
or imply the existence of an association be-
tween RSQM and the lawful owners of such
trademarks.
Copyright © 2016 RSQM
All rights reserved.
RSQM, its logo, and
Aweome are trademarks of
Round Square Marketing
Grace Musyoka is a founding partner at
RSQM. She’s a social entrepreneur and
a Manchester United fan who runs the
local fanclub, United Damu.
Grace is a Vision 2030 Champion
and she’s passionate about fighting
corruption and promoting national
values. She has published several articles
and featured stories on different issues.
You can reach Grace at grace@
roundsquarem.com
You can also view her personal
publications at Facebook/
myawesomeblog.tips
You can follow her on Twitter @GMutheu

Corrpt businesses in Kenya II

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

Similar to Corrpt businesses in Kenya II

Similar to Corrpt businesses in Kenya II (15)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (16)

Corrpt businesses in Kenya II