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Retired Chief Justice Willy Mutunga was quoted by African Arguments blog referring to the cartels promoting corruption in Kenya as protected. He insinuated that the law was also protecting these individuals. The blog quotes him saying, “You are taking these people [Cartels] into a corrupt investigating system, through a corrupt anti-corruption system, and a corrupt judiciary.”
This is quite a sobering statement considering only this week we had the chairman of the Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission Phillip Kinisu offer to resign after failing to declare conflict of interest where the commission he heads was investigating the National Youth Service (NYS) supply scandal yet a company associated with his family is alleged to have irregularly supplied goods worth Ksh. 35million to NYS over the last three years.
With key institutions looking compromised Kenyans appear helpless against the huge dragon that is corruption; at least until now that the Access to Information Bill has been signed. Now Kenyans too have a chance at denting this beast. Indeed President Uhuru Kenyatta has finally given Kenyans a real chance at joining the fight against corruption by signing this Bill into law.
This effectively signals changes in this regime moving forward and any other regime afterwards for both government and the subjects. This is because both government and the people will be guided by principles of transparency. Transparency leads to a stabilized political system because informed citizens can tell propaganda from real issues and make informed decisions, and consequently reduction in tribalism because an empowered citizen is not likely to have his emotions whipped by politicians riding on tribalism.
Additionally, these principles will see a less corrupt regime because Kenyans through this Act are not only able to detect corruption but also unearth it where there’s suspicion by demanding relevant documents invoking this Act where there appears to be no cooperation. Citizens therefore can become active participants in enforcing accountability among public officers; something that has been elusive for decades now and indeed the reason why cartels thrive in Kenya.
The fourth estate that has had it rough trying to provide information; particularly investigative pieces that uncover corruption in both public and private sector now have their work cut-out for them. We can hope that the media will now give more credible factual and reliable investigative news stories courtesy of this new Act.
However, implementation of this law may still be hindered by pro-status quo politicians. Already it is becoming common in the region to shut down social media during election periods in the name of security threat. The government is also preparing the Computers and Cybercrime Bill that is feared will be used to deny people Access to Information through social media shut down, in the name of taming hate speech. We can hope the Commission on Administrative Justice can help iron out this issue.
Also, the seemingly subject political culture in Kenya where there’s heavy consumption of politics but little input in terms of public participation when called upon to give views on things like Bills before Parliament may work against the full realization of this Act.
There’s therefore a need for public awareness. A little civic education here can go a long way in helping Kenyans understand the power they now have under the Access to Information Act and how to utilize that power to become responsive, and engage actively in ensuring accountability within and without government.
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