How corruption is silently making Kenya bankrupt

This story has significance for readers across Kenya and beyond.

Kenya's greatest economic challenge is not a shortage of resources. It is corruption.

Corruption is often described as a moral failure, and it certainly is. But reducing it to a question of ethics understates the enormous damage it inflicts on our country. Corruption is, above all, an economic catastrophe. Corruption is economic treason. It quietly drains the wealth that should be building industries, creating jobs, improving healthcare and education, and raising the standard of living for every Kenyan.

Every Kenyan feels its effects, whether they recognise it or not. Corruption raises the cost of government, discourages investment, weakens public institutions, distorts fair competition and erodes confidence in the State. The result is higher taxes, poor public services, rising public debt, fewer employment opportunities, higher cost of living and a slower-growing economy.

For decades, Kenya has responded to corruption with half-measures. The conversation for decades is about “fighting corruption”. Nobody talks about its elimination. Hence, corruption has continued to grow because we have concentrated on treating the symptoms rather than eliminating the disease. We have fought individual scandals instead of dismantling the systems that allow corruption to flourish.

Corruption is not inevitable. It is a policy failure. It is a failure of willingness and a failure of leadership at the top. It is a failure of the Presidency.

No nation has achieved lasting prosperity while tolerating systemic corruption. Singapore, once plagued by corruption, transformed itself into one of the world's cleanest and most competitive economies by making integrity the foundation of government. Botswana built one of Africa's strongest public institutions by treating public office as a sacred public trust. Rwanda has demonstrated that determined political leadership, supported by effective institutions, can dramatically reduce corruption within a relatively short period.

These countries did not succeed because they possessed superior cultures. They succeeded because they built systems that made corruption increasingly difficult to commit, increasingly risky to attempt and increasingly costly to those who engaged in it.

Kenya can do exactly the same.

The true cost of corruption extends far beyond the money that is stolen. Every inflated procurement contract means fewer classrooms are built, fewer hospitals are equipped, fewer kilometres of roads are constructed and fewer electricity projects are completed than taxpayers have already paid for. Every contract awarded because of political connections instead of value for money increases the cost of doing business throughout the economy. Every investor who loses confidence in Kenya's institutions takes capital, technology, jobs and future opportunities elsewhere.

Corruption therefore does not simply steal public money. It steals opportunity from millions of Kenyans.

It is often argued that Kenya lacks sufficient financial resources to achieve its development ambitions. That is only partly true. The larger problem is the enormous amount of money that disappears every year through procurement fraud, revenue leakages, tax evasion, counterfeit trade, waste and poor financial management.

Former President Uhuru Kenyatta estimated that Kenya loses about Sh2 billion every day to corruption. Other estimates place the figure at approximately Sh3.5 billion per day. That translates to between Sh750 billion and Sh1 trillion every year—an amount comparable to the annual national development budget and to the budget deficit and borrowing.

Imagine what Kenya could achieve if even a substantial portion of those resources were recovered and invested productively. We could significantly reduce public borrowing. We could modernise healthcare and education. We could expand affordable electricity generation, strengthen water infrastructure, build world-class transport networks and, above all, finance large-scale industrialisation capable of creating millions of productive jobs.

This is why fighting corruption should no longer be viewed merely as a legal or political exercise. It must become Kenya's most important economic strategy.

The top leadership should establish one of the strongest anti-corruption frameworks on the African continent. Institutions responsible for preventing, investigating and prosecuting corruption must be genuinely independent, professionally managed and adequately funded. Their performance should be measured not by the number of press conferences they hold, but by successful investigations, successful prosecutions, recovered public assets and stolen wealth returned to the taxpayer.

Technology must become one of the government's most effective weapons against corruption. Public procurement, revenue collection, land administration, licensing and government expenditure should be fully digitised with transparent audit trails that minimise human discretion. The fewer opaque transactions government permits, the fewer opportunities exist for corruption.

Judicial reform is equally essential. Justice delayed is justice denied, but in corruption cases it also destroys deterrence. Corruption cases should not take years or even decades to conclude. Kenya should establish specialised anti-corruption courts with sufficient judges and judicial capacity to conclude cases—including appeals—within clearly defined timelines. Investigative agencies must also be significantly strengthened by recruiting highly qualified forensic accountants, financial investigators, prosecutors and technology specialists capable of investigating increasingly sophisticated economic crimes.

Leadership, however, remains the decisive factor.

No institution consistently performs above the quality of its leadership. The leadership must therefore set an uncompromising example of personal integrity and demand the same standard from every Cabinet Secretary, Principal Secretary and senior public official. Public office should never be regarded as an opportunity for personal enrichment. It is a solemn trust exercised on behalf of the Kenyan people. The President himself must be beyond reproach in matters of integrity.

The private sector also has a responsibility. Businesses must reject bribery as merely another cost of doing business. Professional bodies must enforce ethical standards among their members.

If Kenya is serious about becoming an industrial, prosperous and globally competitive nation, corruption cannot remain a manageable inconvenience

Winning the war against corruption will not solve every problem facing Kenya, but without winning it, none of our other national ambitions—including industrialisation, job creation and shared prosperity—will ever be fully realised.

Mr Shollei is a Nairobi-based Business Consultant

Reporting originally appeared via Nation Africa. Read the full source for additional context.