Archbishop in Kenya Reminds President of Pope’s Plea to Fight Corruption

CANAA || By Father Don Bosco Onyalla, Nairobi || 03 March 2016

Archbishop Peter Kairo of Nyeri in Kenya has reminded President Uhuru Kenyatta of Pope Francis’ exhortation during his pastoral visit last November to fight the vice of corruption.

Archbishop Kairo who also asked those who have looted public funds to return it before repenting was leading the faithful of his Archdiocese Monday in breaking ground for the construction of a shrine.

The Sh3 million (some US$30,000) shrine will be constructed at Our Lady of Divine Providence Church in Gikondi, Nyeri, in memory of Blessed Sr. Irene Stefani ‘Nyaatha’ who worked and died there.

She was beatified on May 23, 2015 at the Dedan Kimathi University grounds in Nyeri where up to 100,000 people from all over the world gathered and millions more watched the solemn event live on television.

The Archbishop recalled the address by Pope Francis in Kenya saying, “During the meeting with the youth at Kasarani Stadium, the Pope asked youth to resist being corrupt and also asked the Head of the State to tame the vice.”

The reaction from the prelate comes in the wake of multiple revelations of corruption in the country seen by analysts to be sliding out of control.

The economic crimes reported by various local media include embezzlement of public funds both in the national and county governments, bribery allegations in various government institutions including the judiciary, and procurement fraud.

Kenya has scored poorly in the new global corruption index report released by Transparency International (TI) on January 27, 2016 ranking it among the worst performers, at position 139 out of 168 countries.

According to a survey on prevalence of economic crimes released in Nairobi last week by audit firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) , Kenya is the third most corrupt country in the world.

The findings by PwC came just a day after President Kenyatta had said that Kenyans have become experts in stealing, whining and perpetuating tribalism. He was addressing Kenyans living in Israel.

Kenya’s Chief Justice Willy Mutunga has expressed similar views, describing Kenya as a bandit economy where corruption seems to have pervaded all levels of society.

The survey revealed declining confidence in the ability of law enforcers to deal with the economic crimes of embezzlement, bribery and procurement fraud.

The archbishop said the government had promised, during the three-day papal tour, that it would fight the vice with all its might, but this was not the case.

Although President Kenyatta asked the Pope to pray for him so that he could lead the country well, Archbishop regretted that the President was yet to show seriousness in the task of taming corruption.

Revelations over the loss of Sh791 million (some US$7.9 million) at the National Youth Service (NYS) have caused public anger, an ongoing saga that has sucked in top government officials with some reports indicating that the “scandal is just the tip of the iceberg in the level of graft in the country.”

How the government spent Sh250 billion (some US$2.5 billion) it raised from the Eurobond is yet to be understood by a section of Kenyans.

Investigations have also been revived on the alleged role of Kenyan electoral officials in bribery by officials of a UK security printing firm, which won printing contracts for materials used in the 2013 General Election.

The crimes, which stray into other spheres, extend to the private sector with a clique of top managers of Imperial Bank in court for allegedly pocketing more than Sh34 billion from bank deposits.