Corruption and Impunity as Absolute Killers of Vision 2030

What hasmade countries like the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Singapore amongst otherplaces develop so fast? What is development?Development signifies migration into a brandnew age. Momentarily after the Second World War in the late 1940s developmentstarted entrenching its way into Free states catalyzed by technologicalemergence. In agreementwith TAYEBWA (1992) he states that development is a wide term which should notonly be limited to suggest economic development and welfare or the socialstatus. Development in general revolves around advancement in social, economicand political status of the society in general like security, social activities,culture and political stability. In agreementwith TORADO (1981) development refers to as a multi-dimensional process thatincludes the reorientation and reorganization of the economic and socialsystems. He argues that development is the existing reality and a state of themind in which society is settled through some conclusions on the social,economic and political aspects and finding a way of living a better life.

In agreementwith PERROUX (1978) development is defined as a combination of mental andsocial advancements amongst a community which may be induced to surpass itsstatus quo and reach a global standard progressively and in stable trend. A decade agoKenya marked a journey towards development. This journey was called the vision2030. This vision was devised and evaluated in comparison to South Africa, Malaysia,Singapore and South Korea. This was not limited to economic growth, but also thesocial wellbeing of the citizens. It wasfounded around four pillars:-

1. The political pillar - this pillaraims to realize an issue-based, people-centered, result-oriented andaccountable democratic system.
2. The social pillar - this pillar seeksto engender just, cohesive and equitable social development in a clean andsecure environment.
3. The economic pillar - this pillar aimsto achieve an average economic growth rate of 10 percent per annum andsustaining the same until 2030.
4. The Enablers and Macros Pillar - theeconomic, social and political pillars of Kenya Vision 2030are anchored on thefoundations of macroeconomic stability; Infrastructural development; Science,Technology and Innovation; Land Reforms; Human resource developments; Securityand Public Sector Reforms.

Vision 2030

The aim ofthis discussion is scrutinizing corruption and impunity as the absolute killersof this step into development. The vision has made extensive developments but isbeing slowly destroyed by corruption and impunity. This visionwas finalized and launched on June 10, 2008.In just about a decade, the national GDP increased in more thanfivefold, from $12 billion to over $72 billion today. This however never metthe targeted 10 percent annual growth.CORRUPTIONThe cultureof corruption has grown roots in the Kenyan society at large and has becomeendemic (Mogeni, 2005). Institutions which were created for the regulation anoversight of the relationship between the state and officials are instead beingused for the enrichment of public officials and other corrupt private agents. Corruption persist in Kenya because there are people in power who benefit fromit and the existing governing body lacks the will and capacity to stop them todo so.

Corruptionis the simplest form of dishonesty. According to (Wrong, 2014) noted fromcomments of Kenyans, everyone is corrupt in Kenya even grandmothers. It canalso be defined as an illegal act undertaken by a person or a group of peoplein authority for illegal benefits.Itcan lead to catastrophic series of events. Even after the enactment of severallaws and the promulgation of the new constitution, Kenya is yet to overcomecorruption. This stems from different reasons impunity as one of them. As aresult, achieving and attaining vision 2030 is jeopardized. Corruptionrepresents a governance ill. It is a characteristic of bad governance. TheEthics and Anti-Corruption Commission was reframed from the KenyaAnti-Corruption Commission in 2011 as a measure alongside several others tohelp fight corruption but Kenya is still ranked as one of the most corruptstates in the world. (Hope 2012, 2013)This essayreviews governance and development in Kenya to analyze and examine the causesand effects of corruption and impunity in Kenya. It identifies the key factors(such as absence of strong and effective democratic institutions, centralizedpower, lack of public accountability, and impunity

Causes of corruption

Wherecorruption persists is an indication of poor governance. As the former unitedstates secretary of state Clinton (20009, pg1) noted in a speech in Nairobi,‘the absence of strong and effective democratic institutions has permittedon-going corruption, Impunity, Politically motivated violence and a lack ofrespect for the rule of law’. Clinton (2009, pg5) Further states that trueeconomic progress also depends on responsible governments that rejectcorruption, enforce the law and deliver results to their people. Other causesof corruption are low salaries, lack of accountability, lack of transparency, badgovernance, political patronage, and perversion of societal values, non-enforcementof the law, tribalism alongside nepotism, lack of professional integrity andmisuse of discretionary power vested in influential people. Apparentlywe have the highest rate of corruption which is by theft, bribery, money laundry,embezzlement of funds, evasion of taxes, bid rigging, abuse of office, fraud,breach of trust etc. The major corruption case in Kenya is lack ofaccountability and theft. E. g. The NYS Scandal where billions were lost.

Effects of corruption

In countrieswhere corruption has found its way into political affiliations low governancescores and weak governance institutions are evident. And this translates to asluggish economic performance and lower rates of growth as seen in ourdevelopment goal vision 2030. Corruptionhas many effects because it destabilizes our society and endangers the rule oflaw, delays on infrastructure development, poor building quality and layers ofadditional cost are all consequences of corruption. Later, theburden to recover the losses, in turn, fall unfavorably on the poor. In January2010, the US government announced it was suspending education funding to Kenyafollowing reports that more than 1 million us dollars were missing from thecountry’s primary schooling program. (Boswel, Et. Al, 2010)Corruptionthreatens sustainable economic development, ethnical values and justice

Impunity and effects

Is exceptionfrom punishment fair? In most cases those in authority are exempted frompunishment. This is impunity. E. g. in the recent elections rigging occurred andno justice prevailed. Theemergence of poor governance in institutions, a trend of impunity to the ruleof law, low self-drive and inefficiency in the work place has majorlycontributed to an environment that has facilitated a rise in corruption casesand now corruption can be seen to be at devastating levels (NACP Secretariat, n. d. ,p. 3).Thislevels has caused public accountability become seriously lacking. Publicaccountability is a role of public officials to account their actions in office. It is also an aspect of good governance. Lack of accountability in Kenya haspromoted abuse of power and has further led to much distrust among Kenyans.

Conclusion

Corruption andImpunity are absolute killers. In Kenyan, the most important answers we need tolook for today is: how we shall end corruption and impunity. The presidentaffirms we should concern ourselves with this malpractice because harm shallcome on our economy and our ability as a nation to achieve the goals shall beundermined, notably eradicating poverty and creation of jobs. There is strongevidence showing how development is undermined by corruption. For example,resource allocation, is diverted to a few individuals for personal gain then itleads to uneven distribution of wealth and income. The cost of doing business raises;thus repelling investors, both local and foreign. Impossibility in job creationand poverty reduction is rendered due a subdued investment portfolio. AsKenyans, we should have the knowledge that as corruption is to the economy, sois cancer is to the human body. It disgraces and divides a nation. Thereforecorruption must be eliminated. (Kenyatta, 2014, pg 1)Forimpunity, if we cannot punish the corrupt and enforce the rule of law we areendangering the future generations with the same disease. Our visiontowards development is therefore doomed not to realize its planning. The planmight not meet its deadlines or not being executed at all. So we can seecorruption and impunity are the absolute killers to vision 2030.