NAIROBI,Kenya, July 1 – Every calendar year, the report by the auditor general, seems to unearth the nation’s vices particularly on how much plunder of public resources is committed by those at the helm of government at the utter detriment of millions of taxpayers.
While the relevant authorities go through the fine print, with a tooth comb, in a bid to begin putting those accused of this vice to account, the discussion around, how long the cycle will be allowed to thrive, killing the opportunities of many youth, has begun, with young people themselves starting to understand the power of their vote and how they can place better leaders, who will provide opportunities for a society ailing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to Thirdway Alliance Secretary General Fredrick Okango, politicians reman the biggest beneficiaries of corruption.
“A lot of people in power are politicians. By definition, if somebody asks you what is corruption, you would have a lot of words, as far as the word is concerned,” he further said, “f you look at our country, it is governed by the rule of Law. But people who get into office, are products of political activities. And therefore I agree with the young people, when they say, if you ask them what is corruption, the first thing that comes to mind, is a politician.”
In a study titled, “Re imagining the fight against corruption,” undertaken by Macho baseline survey, the political class are highly perceived as corrupt,with greed being regarded as the major factor that contributes to corruption inclusive of impunity and poverty.
But young people, say that theres more to the vice, in their everyday lives.
“We need to make corruption very relatable even to the common person. To the female student, for example , corruption in essence is really abuse of power. So looking at a student who is in school, they are entitled to be in school, and to get their grades, but they have missing marks and apart from that , you are faced with the fact that you have to compromise your dignity as a person and if you dont do that then you are not going to get your grades, that is corruption,” said Caesarian Mulobi, spokesperson Campus Me Too movement.
With the system seen as not doing much to recover stolen funds or plan for projects that are essential for the people, that may not become a burden on them in the future, youth leaders say, that there is need to dissect how best to kill the points that breath life into the vice.
The youth, face a myraid of challenges that push many to a belief that the best way out is by keeping the cycle going.
“Why is it difficult to take away, the corruption elements, from the political environment? And that’s why the young people believe, that the opportunities that they have, have been taken away by the politicians who are corrupt. the simple answer is, we invest in corruption to reap in politics. That is the bottom line,” said Okango.
“Most people especially the youth are waiting for their time to be in that space and you will do, what the politicians are doing. Yes, its the politicians are doing it, but then its a societal vice. There is a problem with our values,” Said Mulobi.
Kevin Boa, a 27 year old, with a bachelors degree, in socio-economic development at Maseno University where he graduated in 2019 says that after a year of no responses to job applications, he begun an online business in order to make ends meet.
“I believe, the course that I undertook back then, is a very relevant course in the society right now, because everything that we were taught there, deals with governance, asking our leaders to be accountable and also asking ourselves to be accountable. I am able to use the knowledge to teach the communities how to use their votes and their voices to change the lives that they live,” he said.
He says life for many youth in a similar predicament in Kenya’s sprawling slum areas, often lose hope, with each untapped opportunity and without economic earning activities, they make poor choices often with dire consequences.
“I believe, that most of us, in like Mukuru, we have been there for so many years, because of bad leadership. Even ourselves we are not able to make the decision, we are not empowered on what to do. We find ourselves stuck without government resources. So now, when the elections time comes, it becomes very easy to bribe people with 100 bob, or 1000 bob, then they get our votes and you go away,” he further said
As he struggles to stayafloat, he is always aware of a loan owed to the government after the state funded his higher education.
Many youth like him feel that if government spends money to educate young people, it should find ways to enable them be economically independent so that they are able to repay the loans they got for their studies.
“We always say that a third of the Kenyan budget, cannot be accounted for or is either stolen, misappropriated, and theres kickbacks, in the budgeted corruption.” said Drius Okolo, a chief researcher, Macho firm.
From the recent budget of 3 trillion, Okolo says an estimated 300 billion could be lost through corruption.
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