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Graft seemingly acceptable in Kenya – Githongo

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 17 – Former Governance and Ethics Permanent Secretary John Githongo on Tuesday expressed concerns over the growing and ‘shocking’ levels of corruption in Kenya.

He said corruption is so high that it is no longer big news to Kenyans citing exposure of numerous scandals that result to huge losses of public money.

“Kenyans have become saturated with corruption. There is no scandal that seems to make us angry anymore. We have reached the end of outrage. People are tired. Corruption no longer shocks us,” he complained.

Githongo further said apart from money laundering, drug trafficking was sinking deeper in the country especially among young people yet very little was being done to address the challenge.

Githongo is also worried that many young people had resulted to taking drugs and over use of alcohol due to frustration and easy availability of such substances.

“The sons and daughters of even the elite consume and are being consumed by drugs. The spate of suicide that we are seeing, even in universities… strange things are happening. Young people are killing each other! Too many young people have given up and are drinking themselves to death,” he asserted.

Githongo asked the government to address challenges facing young people to ensure they have jobs and are also protected from lawlessness.

He said such things are happening in the country due to laxity in the governance systems and interest in selfish financial gains.

Though he did not comment on the contents of Miguna Miguna’s book, ‘Peeling Back the Mask’ he said it was important for Kenyans to learn to document issues in the country.

“It is never a bad thing for people who have been in public service to write their experiences so that we can have an opportunity to learn,” he said.

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Githongo went into exile in 2004 and exposed scandals in which top government officials were linked to corrupt deals.

Miguna became the second high ranking public officer in recent times to publish a controversial book after Githongo’s ‘It’s our Turn to Eat’ in which he exposed massive corruption in public offices.

Miguna left the country for Canada on Tuesday to promote his book.

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