Kenya: No end to the corruption

Kenya No end to the problem
Nov 16th 2006 NAIROBI From The Economist print edition
Ever more reasons to worry about endemic corruption
THERE are few people left, even in Kenya, who dispute the fact that the country is one of the most corrupt in the world. Guesses about how much senior officials pinch from the public coffers range from $1 billion a year and up. But if that aspect of the country's corruption problem is well known, it is now doing other kinds of damage. For a rotten Kenya has also become an international security concern.
That was the message of Kim Howells, a Foreign Office minister from Britain, the former colonial master, on a visit to the country last week. In unusually frank terms, Mr Howells argued that because everyone, from Mombasa dockers to senior government officials, can be bought off, Kenya is “wide open” for drug cartels and terrorists. The cartels move large quantities of cocaine and heroin through Kenya and the drug money washing through Kenya's political bloodstream is making it even harder for honest ministers and civil servants to do their job.
Terrorism is another concern. Intelligence sources suggest that a few jihadists among the Somali Islamists in Mogadishu may be readying suicide attacks against targets in Kenya. Corruption certainly makes it easier for them to move between the two countries. Small bribes at remote border posts and larger bribes at Kenya's domestic airports are enough to make Somalis invisible to Kenya's security services. Corruption at the highest levels provides cover for stealing down the line. Some of the proceeds go on country club memberships and luxury cars. But far more is spent on political campaigns: rallies, paying off tribal elders, gangs to intimidate opposition supporters, and sometimes the voters themselves.
The present government was elected on an anti-corruption platform, but has done little to fulfil its promises. From the start, it borrowed money from many of the same individuals as the previous regime, and set about paying off debts with similar dodgy schemes. A few of these were laid bare by John Githongo, a government-appointed investigator who had to flee the country when his findings got too close to the top. His revelations did prompt two ministers to resign, but this week they were both reinstated. Some of the $300m or so involved in the scams has been returned to the treasury.
Donor countries are confining their aid to ever more strictly audited projects. Sir Edward Clay, an outspoken former British high commissioner to Kenya, says donors should be using their own laws more effectively against corrupt African officials. “Corruption is too far down the development agenda,” says Sir Edward. Kenya has made some progress. Mr Githongo and other brave whistle-blowers, after all, are Kenyans speaking for Kenya. But too many of them have had to flee abroad. Nor is there a single conviction in sight.