The Supreme Court has just struck a decisive blow in the war against corruption.
In a long overdue ruling, the highest court in the land has made it impossible for crooked Kenyans to steal from the public coffers and enjoy the loot. Those who cannot explain the source of their wealth stand to lose it.
This is good news. Some of the people entrusted with public positions have no scruples about lining their pockets at the public’s expense.
It is despicable desecration of the public service, whose objective is delivery of services and not as a conduit for sleaze.
The Supreme Court ruling should make the work of the anti-corruption agencies and the Judiciary much easier.
But, most importantly, it should enable the nurturing of a culture of respect for public resources and the need to work hard for a just reward.
It also opens the way for the recovery of the ill-gotten wealth and seizure of any assets acquired using looted public funds.
The decision should also reinvigorate the war on corruption, to conclude the cases that have been pending for far too long.
For years ridiculed as toothless, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission is finally demonstrating that it actually has teeth and it can bite.
It had challenged a former civil servant to explain the source of the funds he used to put up a multimillion-shilling estate.
Also, recently, a court ordered the forfeiture of Sh33 million in a former principal secretary’s bank account after she failed to explain how she made the money.
These two cases, and the recent repossession of grabbed land in Nairobi meant for the expansion of the city’s sewage treatment plant, are proof that the war on corruption can be won. The anti-graft agencies must sustain the momentum to clear the rot.
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