A public hearing, a picture shows how China handles looters of State funds.
By Mdadisi Mmoja
Mwalimu Mati, the founder of the anti corruption watchdog Mars group has put his own life on the line in his efforts to expose corruption in Kenya, but even he, would be taken aback at what is happening in China, this at a time when the Kenya AG Amos Wako puts in place a judicial process that could see former finance minister Chris Okemo and former Kenya Power and Lighting company boss Samuel Gichuru extradited to the British administered Island of Jersey over allegedly receiving Sh.900 million in bribes at a time when they were in office. While the duo is expected to fight against the extradition process so as to remain in Kenya, where the system is expected to sympathies with them, bearing in mind that some of the very senior government officials now holding offices at the treasury and Kenya power and lighting could have played some role even then. Should we as Kenyans allow people who looted from us, utilize the same same funds stolen from our coffers, fight their way to freedom in the courts that we fought so hard putting in place, to frustrate the recovery of looted funds? The Chinese corrupt government officials are opting to run away before being caught. So how much money have the Chinese government officials stashed away? And how did they manage to transfer overseas such huge sums?
A few week ago, the People's Bank of China published a report that looked at corruption monitoring and how corrupt officials transfer assets overseas. The report quotes statistics based on research by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences: 18,000 Communist Party and government officials, public-security members, judicial cadres, agents of state institutions and senior-management individuals of state-owned enterprises had fled China since 1990. Also missing is about $120 billion.
The People's Bank of China report stresses that until now, nobody has been able to provide an authoritative figure of the exact sum pilfered, and the figure of $120 billion is still only an estimate. It is nonetheless an astronomical sum. It is the kind of money that could transform Kenya from a poor country to middle income status in the shape of say Taiwan or Vietnam. It was reported that the wife of the deputy chief engineer of the Ministry of Railways, Zhang Shuguang, who had been caught earlier for corruption, owns three luxury mansions in Los Angles and has bank savings of as much as $2.8 billion in the U.S. and Switzerland.
But why would corrupt officials fight in the courts of law to remain in Kenya while their counterpart in China are opting to flee to western capitals? The answer surely lies in the judicial system of both countries. While in China, an officer arrested over corruption could expect to face a lengthy jail term or a death sentence if convicted, in Kenya on the other hand the opposite is likely to happen. Unless the new chief justice Dr. Willy Mutunga cracks the whip this early into his administration, as we expect him to do, the thieves would still grace our churches, mosques and political party fund raising events to offer their biggest donations, in the process buying political leaders in advance even before they make their first steps into State House, The Governor's Mansion, Parliament or into The Senate. In the Corruption Perception Index of 2005, Kenya was ranked 144th out of 159 countries for corruption. Let us watch out, you must never sell your vote to anybody especially, looters of any type.
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