At the start of the 2006 World Bank and International Monetary Fund annual conference at Suntec City in Singapore, whistleblower John Githongo paced restlessly.
He was about to meet journalists, policy makers, politicians and civil society leaders. But even before his arrival from exile for this key meeting of lenders, the hype was already off the charts.
It had been a year since Mr Githongo fled Kenya in 2005 following threats to his life after exposing the Sh100 billion Anglo Leasing scandal. The rip-off involved fraudulent State contracts with inflated payments for security and services that were never delivered.
In one panel discussion that featured key figures like Amos Kimunya, Rodrigo Rato and Paul Wolfowitz, there was thrill in listening to the counsel of the former Ethics Permanent Secretary who become a thorn in Narc and President Mwai Kibaki’s flesh.
Covering the meeting for a Kenyan publication, I spoke with Mr Githongo ‘nyuma ya tent.’ He vowed to do ‘anything’ for his country, no matter the personal cost.
True, no Kenyan has risked personal safety to fight graft more than the man. The book ‘It’s our turn to eat: The story of a Kenyan whistle-blower’ by British writer Michela Wrong has every thrill on how it went.
Today, we’ve new ‘whistleblowers’ in Mr Rigathi Gachagua and Mr Justin Muturi. The former ‘system’ insiders have linked President William Ruto to graft. Mr Muturi adds some salt that the President is ‘irredeemably’ corrupt.
They’ve also condemned abductions and extrajudicial killings.
While the merits of their claims are debatable, observers have verily questioned the timing. Was it a matter of sour grapes?
Why wait so long to speak out? And if they were truly aggrieved, why haven’t they provide critical evidence to relevant institutions to nail the thieves?
There’s a big difference between Mr Muturi and Mr Gachagua on one hand, and Mr Githongo on the other. While the ousted Deputy President and sacked Public Service Cabinet Secretary act for political expediency, Mr Githongo’s was focused on accountability.
As Mr Kibaki’s trusted man, he didn’t wait to be fired before speaking out. He set high whistleblowing standards.
Come to think of it. During their happy days in Kenya Kwanza, one would say Mr Gachagua and Mr Muturi turned a blind eye to the moral decay in their circles. Why? Two possibilities.
Either they passively complied, or their silence was a strategy for self-preservation. So how then can they be trusted or said to be pro-Wanjiku? They have a desire to teach ‘someone’ a lesson.
As I have previously warned in this space, when the fight against sleaze becomes a political chess game, we are doomed.
Uhuru Kenyatta once said we lose Sh2 billion daily to graft, while former CJ Willy Mutunga crafted the theory of ‘bandit economy’ to describe our corrupt culture. And, knowing how deeply political and bureaucratic graft runs, we are all caught up in it.
Now, it behooves Mr Gachagua and his allies to move beyond media interviews to convince Kenyans that they’re serious about fighting corruption.
In early 2023, the truthful man threatened to name and shame graft cartels in government including “people who stole billions of shillings from our economy in underhand deals.”
He called them “allies of Uhuru Kenyatta and his handshake brother Raila Odinga, who executed state capture. People who wanted to grab Galana Kulalu and Kibiku land.” That wasn’t all. Mr Gachagua alleged he knew shadowy characters who owned banks and controlled interest rates, with public policy allegedly angled to benefit a select few. Why is Wamunyoro man not naming the thieves now that he is out of office? If he has evidence, why wait?
The failure to formally file a corruption report has reduced the ‘revelations’ against Dr Ruto to a 2027 ploy. As for Mr Muturi, speaking out too late in the day has battered his credibility. Leadership is null without the courage to safeguard public resources.
-The writer is a communications practitioner.
By Mark Oloo