How corruption is silently making Kenya bankrupt

Kenya's greatest economic challenge is not a shortage of resources. It is corruption.

Corruption is often described as a moral failure, and it certainly is. But reducing it to a question of ethics understates the enormous damage it inflicts on our country. Corruption is, above all, an economic catastrophe. Corruption is economic treason. It quietly drains the wealth that should be building industries, creating jobs, improving healthcare and education, and raising the standard of living for every Kenyan.

Every Kenyan feels its effects, whether they recognise it or not. Corruption raises the cost of government, discourages investment, weakens public institutions, distorts fair competition and erodes confidence in the State. The result is higher taxes, poor public services, rising public debt, fewer employment opportunities, higher cost of living and a slower-growing economy.

For decades, Kenya has responded to corruption with half-measures. The conversation for decades is about “fighting corruption”. Nobody talks about its elimination. Hence, corruption has continued to grow because we have concentrated on treating the symptoms rather than eliminating the disease. We have fought individual scandals instead of dismantling the systems that allow corruption to flourish.

Corruption is not inevitable. It is a policy failure. It is a failure of willingness and a failure of leadership at the top. It is a failure of the Presidency.

No nation has achieved lasting prosperity while tolerating systemic corruption. Singapore, once plagued by corruption, transformed itself into one of the world's cleanest and most competitive economies by making integrity the foundation of government. Botswana built one of Africa's strongest public institutions by treating public office as a sacred public trust. Rwanda has demonstrated that determined political leadership, supported by effective institutions, can dramatically reduce corruption within a relatively short period.

These countries did not succeed because they possessed superior cultures. They succeeded because they built systems that made corruption increasingly difficult to commit, increasingly risky to attempt and increasingly costly to those who engaged in it.

Kenya can do exactly the same.