Vir­tu­al­ly all politi­cians in this coun­try right­ful­ly lash out against cor­rup­tion dur­ing pub­lic ral­lies. Most Kenyans also detest cor­rup­tion. Yet this scourge remains entrenched in our soci­ety. Are we help­less vic­tims of cor­rup­tion who have been reduced to throw­ing up our hands in the air in sur­ren­der? Not at all.

As we cel­e­brate the East­er sea­son, a time sym­bol­iz­ing renew­al and new begin­nings, our beloved nation must con­front the per­va­sive and deeply entrenched cor­rup­tion in our midst. The recent sur­vey by the Ethics and Anti-Cor­rup­tion Com­mis­sion (EACC) has shed light on the alarm­ing extent of cor­rup­tion amongst min­istries, coun­ties, and pub­lic institutions.

The Inte­ri­or Min­istry emerged as the most bribe-prone min­istry in 2023, fol­lowed close­ly by Health and Trans­port. This rev­e­la­tion is par­tic­u­lar­ly con­cern­ing, as these min­istries play cru­cial roles in safe­guard­ing the well-being and secu­ri­ty of Kenyans.
Among coun­ties, Busia, Baringo, Nairo­bi, Naku­ru, and Machakos were iden­ti­fied as the five most bribe-prone coun­ties, with vary­ing rates of solic­i­ta­tion for bribes per ser­vice sought. Indeed, the EACC Report under­scores the per­va­sive nature of cor­rup­tion across dif­fer­ent lev­els of gov­er­nance and ser­vice delivery.
To effec­tive­ly com­bat cor­rup­tion, I sug­gest that we glean the fol­low­ing four lessons from the East­er Spir­it of rebirth.
First­ly, East­er is about res­ur­rec­tion. Rebirth and renew­al. Our anti-cor­rup­tion leg­is­la­tion and agen­cies are in dire need of re-birth, renew­al, and re-engi­neer­ing. EACC needs more teeth and more resources. Sim­i­lar­ly, the anti-cor­rup­tion court should also be spe­cial­ly equipped to con­clude cor­rup­tion cas­es speed­i­ly and defin­i­tive­ly. These agen­cies must be empow­ered to con­duct thor­ough inves­ti­ga­tions, pros­e­cute offend­ers, and imple­ment strin­gent anti-cor­rup­tion mea­sures with­out inter­fer­ence or polit­i­cal influ­ence. In addi­tion, there must be manda­to­ry asset dec­la­ra­tions for pub­lic offi­cials, pro­tec­tion for whistle­blow­ers, the imple­men­ta­tion of open data poli­cies and e‑governance sys­tems to min­i­mize oppor­tu­ni­ties for corruption.
Sec­ond­ly, East­er is about self-sac­ri­fice over self-Inter­est. The East­er sto­ry empha­sizes self-sac­ri­fice, as demon­strat­ed by Jesus’s cru­ci­fix­ion for the greater good. In address­ing cor­rup­tion, lead­ers and indi­vid­u­als should pri­or­i­tize the wel­fare of the nation over per­son­al gain. In this regard, ser­vant lead­er­ship is crit­i­cal. Jesus’s lead­er­ship was char­ac­ter­ized by serv­ing oth­ers. Lead­ers in Kenya should embrace ser­vant lead­er­ship, focus­ing on serv­ing the pub­lic rather than exploit­ing their posi­tions for per­son­al benefit.
Third­ly, East­er reminds us that faith with­out action is dead. Sim­i­lar­ly, com­bat­ing cor­rup­tion requires more action than talk, it demands con­crete actions and com­mit­ment to change. Politi­cians mustn’t just be loud on micro­phones; they must speak loud­ly through their con­cert­ed anti-cor­rup­tion legislation.
Fourth­ly, East­er blasts to the pub­lic a time­less mes­sage of redemp­tion. Such focused pub­lic aware­ness keeps the mass­es informed and inspired. In the same vein, we must nev­er tire in empow­er­ing the pub­lic with an over­all integri­ty mes­sage that engen­ders behav­ioral change. Sus­tained pub­lic aware­ness cam­paigns, com­bined with ini­tia­tives that encour­age civic engage­ment and cit­i­zen over­sight, can help cre­ate a cul­ture of account­abil­i­ty and intol­er­ance towards cor­rupt practices.
By imple­ment­ing these four East­er-inspired inter­ven­tions, Kenya can embark on a trans­for­ma­tive jour­ney of com­bat­ing cor­rup­tion and fos­ter­ing a cul­ture of trans­paren­cy, integri­ty, and account­abil­i­ty. Indeed, may this East­er sea­son open the flood­gates of integri­ty and infuse the fight against cor­rup­tion with unprece­dent­ed strength.
Let me con­clude with these pow­er­ful words from David Oginde, the Chair­per­son of the Ethics and Anti-Cor­rup­tion Com­mis­sion, in his Fore­word of the Sur­vey Report, “The cor­ro­sive effects of cor­rup­tion dimin­ish pri­vate and pub­lic sec­tor invest­ments, hin­der eco­nom­ic growth, con­tribute to polit­i­cal insta­bil­i­ty and fos­ter insecurity.”
That’s why we must embrace the spir­it of East­er and fight cor­rup­tion tooth and nail.
I there­fore urge every Kenyan to make it their per­son­al mis­sion to live a life of integri­ty. Just as Christ was on a redemp­tive mis­sion that He ful­filled, we too must com­mit to a mis­sion of root­ing out cor­rup­tion from our soci­ety. Think green, act green!