{UAH} Edmund/Pojim/WBK: Now, $2 million bribe going rate for governor’s seat - Comment

http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/Now---2-million-bribe-going-rate-for-governor-s-seat/-/434750/3055426/-/12bl665z/-/index.html

Now, $2 million bribe going rate for governor's seat

Chief Justice Willy Mutunga. PHOTO | SALATON NJAU 

Two million dollars — American, not Zimbabwean — is a lot of money in any country. In the modest economies of East Africa, that kind of money can go a long way.

My online currency converter tells me that $2,000,000 is equivalent to Ksh204 million, Ush7 billion, Tsh4.4 billion, BIF3 billion and Rwf1.5 billion.

It is the kind of money most of us are unlikely ever to handle in many lifetimes, numbers we dare not even dream about. Yet, that is the amount that a judge of the Supreme Court of Kenya, Justice Philip Tunoi, allegedly received as a bribe in order to throw out a petition challenging the election of Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero.

Now this is a matter under investigation by the Judicial Service Commission, and it is too early to make judgement on the culpability of both the judge and the governor.

It also appears to me that the middleman who reported to Chief Justice Dr Willy Mutunga about the deal and wrote a lengthy affidavit detailing the transaction, journalist Geoffrey Kiplagat, self-confessed co-conspirator in big time subversion of the justice system, will have to prove his claims beyond reasonable doubt.

Anyway, what is under discussion here is not the veracity of the bribery claims or the moral turpitude of either Justice Tunoi or Dr Kidero. It is the very fact that such numbers can be thrown around, reflecting the bribery inflation that makes for such mindboggling sums.

Two million dollars may now be taken as the market value of the governor's seat in a capital city that generates more than half the country's wealth.

Judges given to selling their rulings may also now be inspired to revise the going rates to more closely match — depending on the importance of the case — what is alleged to have been given and received in this instance.

These are the kind of numbers that establish Kenya's place as the biggest economy in the region and also unassailable leader in the bribery premier league table.

What is most shocking are the blasé public reactions to the unfolding story. Yes, there's lot of wonderment about the big number, but one gets the feeling that most are impressed rather than appalled.

Also, many are expressing their anger not at the revelations of corruption, but the large amount cited. So the problem is not the principle, but the quantum.

This reminds me of a story I heard many years ago. This drunk sidled up to the expensively clad beauty who had all at the bar admiring her designer outfits and gold and diamond jewellery:

"Would you sleep with me for one hundred shillings?"

"What, you drunk creep, you think I'm so cheap?"

"No, not really, but now that the principle is established, how much will you charge for a night with me?"

The haughty girl's response had indicated that she was not appalled by the request for her services, but the amount on offer. The drunk put her down perfectly by asking her to name her going price.

That is the Kenyan response to corruption. What shocks is not that the vice has become embedded in the national culture, but that the discussion is always more about the amount than the moral and ethical failings disclosed.

So if we were talking about Ksh2 million rather than Ksh200 million, many would say that's a reasonable and considerate judge. 
Then there are the ethnic and political references that dumb down every discussion.

One of Nairobi's most prominent and flashiest lawyers, Donald Kipkorir, opined on social media that the allegations were all part of a conspiracy to hound out judges affiliated to certain communities.

That view, however outrageous, was shared by many supporters of the Jubilee coalition who tend to think of themselves as the "ruling" ethnic alliance.

Justice Tunoi also did himself no favours by attributing his woes to ethnic-political forces with an eye on reshaping the Supreme Court ahead of its hearing petitions arising out of the 2017 presidential elections.

Whether the learned judge doubles up as a seer is not clear, but that he can so casually refer ahead to the Supreme Court sitting in judgment on an election that has not been held yet was itself telling.

His statement seemed to suggest foreknowledge that the Uhuru Kenyatta-William Ruto duo will emerge victorious and that losing candidate Raila Odinga will petition the outcome in a replay of 2013.

In adopting what seems to be the growing view within the Jubilee support base, the judge was effectively trying to rally the political wing to his cause, in the process betraying partisan ethno-political leanings that are unbecoming of any member of the judiciary.

The team tasked to probe the bribery allegations is supposed to present its findings and recommendations this week.

Whatever it reports will impact not just on Justice Tunoi and Governor Kidero, but also on Chief Justice Mutunga, the Supreme Court and the rest of the judiciary.

It may turn out that Justice Mutunga himself will be on trial as he prepares to exit office with the missionary zeal he brought in the cause of judicial reform largely having floundered.

Dr Mutunga came from veteran civil society and political activism to head the judiciary as first president of the new Supreme Court, promising to root out corruption and radically reform and transform the Judiciary.

Of late, he has had occasion to publicly complain that corruption remains rampant in the corridors of justice.

He also made headlines with his reference to Kenya as a "bandit economy," a country in the firm grip of mafia cartels that control every institution.

It looks like he will go out with a whimper having failed to clean up things, and leave a judiciary in turmoil as infighting rises to the fore.

Now, $2 million bribe going rate for governor's seat - Comment

http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/Now---2-million-bribe-going-rate-for-governor-s-seat/-/434750/3055426/-/12bl665z/-/index.html

Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone.