KAIKAI'S KICKER: Mr. President, give us the ‘State capture’ inquiry!

With 39 days to the August 2022 election, the presidential candidate pledged that within 30 days of coming into office, he would appoint the State Capture Inquiry Commission to, among other things, examine the extent of cronyism and political elite influence over public institutions and make recommendations. On my kicker tonight, we take a look back at the promise of a State capture inquiry, made in 2022. 

In the wake of the legal hurdles to his proposed multi-agency approach, I would urge President Ruto to revisit the promise of a ‘State capture’ inquiry. In its basic definition, State capture is a form of systemic corruption in which private individuals or powerful elites exert undue influence over government institutions and decision-making processes to serve their own private interests rather than the public good.

To apply this as close as possible to the Kenyan context, ‘orders from above’, mkubwa amesema, hiyo ni ya mkubwa all constitute elements of State capture. It is about the use of State power for private gain. It is normally that process of converting public power for private gain that results in corruption.

Kenya’s greatest impediment today is official or high-level corruption. An inquiry on state capture would, for example, connect all the dots between individuals, their positions in power, and mega deals.

A State capture inquiry might just provide answers to questions around mega projects like the Arror and Kimwarer dams, the so-called government-to-government oil importation deal, the edible oil scandal, the Adani JKIA and Ketraco failed deals, and even the SHA/SHIF deals, as well as the privatization of state corporations such as the Kenya Pipeline Corporation.

And going by the scope proposed by candidate Ruto in 2022, a state capture inquiry may just finally provide answers to many questions around the Uhuru Kenyatta-era movement of Eurobond billions. How about the Malaba-bound SGR line that suddenly ends in a Narok thicket?

To fight corruption, give us a State capture inquiry, Mr. President! Even if just for information, a state capture inquiry would make a thrilling chapter in the long story of the looting of Kenya by an expanding clique of greedy political elite.

Give us the State capture inquiry you promised, Mr. President.