I have spent the last couple of years investigating corruption and wastage in government, and bringing you my findings.
And there is a lot of corruption in government.
And a lot of incompetence and wastage.
One of the saddest things I have seen is a whopping KSH 125 million in bursaries, THAT CANNOT BE ACCOUNTED FOR.
In one CDF.
In ONE YEAR.
KSH 125 million.
In Awendo Consistuency. In a county that has a poverty rate of 46%.
It's abhorrent.
But I think that if our country is going to make any progress with regards to corruption and theft of public resources - we need to be frank with ourselves about expectations we are placing on people who offer themselves for leadership.
Take a look at the first picture attached. It shows you the estimated cost of running for office in our country, courtesy of
@MzalendoWatch
KSH 35 million to run for the Senate.
KSH 18 million to run for MP.
Those numbers by the way, look very conservative, to me.
The vast majority of the cost is not really campaign infrastructure, logistics, communications, etc.
It is, for lack of a better word, handouts.
When you show up to talk to people as a candidate, in many places, there is an expectation that you bring cash.
It's just the inescapable reality.
Believe me - I have heard "WANTAM", followed by a very quick "TUTAM" as soon as someone realizes that you are offering ideas, a vision, solutions, but no cash.
I know that I am not the only who have heard this.
So the question we all need to ask ourselves is this:
If an MP needs to invest KSH 18 million (again, a very conservative amount) in a campaign, what do think he is likely to do once he gets into office?
That figure is the average, and again conservative. It will include even those who lost.
In other words, the winning MP might have to invest KSH 30 million, while the loser invests KSH 10 million.
Even with exorbitant compensation that comes to around KSH 920,000, it will take that MP between two and three years to break even.
To recover this "investment", as it were.
In my honest opinion, unless we are willing to deal with this issue, as citizens, we are not going to effectively curb corruption and theft of public resources.
At least, not in a serious way.
Because, in this type of political terrain, by and large, the successful ones will be those who have stolen in other areas, who do not mind dropping KSH 50 million or KSH 75 million to win an MP seat.
And after that, we sit down, and wait for my usual CDF analysis, telling you about billions of shillings in bursaries that found legs, and walked away into the sunset.