YVONNE'S TAKE: If a law needs a loan to matter, did it ever matter at all?

This week, the President finally signed the Conflict of Interest Act, 2025, into law. A long-awaited anti-corruption measure, essential, overdue, and only enacted because Kenya needed support from the World Bank, a $750 million (Ksh.96.6 billion) loan was hinged on it.

If a law needs a loan to matter, did it ever really matter to us?

This legislation was tabled in 2023, debated through 2024, but only began closing loopholes when external pressure surfaced. After Parliament’s version was passed, the President returned it with stronger demands: define "family", expand gift disclosures to relatives, empower the EACC, and close proxy-gifting loopholes.

Until public and institutional pressure – and a bank account – became involved, the bill floundered. What does that say about us?

That even the most basic expectations, like public officers not awarding contracts to themselves, only became a priority when there was money on the table?

The original version of the bill was dangerously diluted: Parliament almost made it legal to give gifts through relatives, capped investigations at 90 days, and cut the EACC out of the process altogether. Only after external pressure, leading to presidential intervention, did it begin to look like a serious effort.

And that raises a deeper, more uncomfortable question: How many other reforms are sitting idle, simply because they don’t come with a cheque attached?

Kenya has witnessed what happens when citizens feel unheard – just look at the deadly 2024 Finance Bill protests. People weren’t just angry about numbers; they were angry about what those numbers symbolised: decisions made without them, laws passed despite them, power exercised above them.

Yes, it’s a step forward. Yes, the loopholes are being closed. But let’s not pretend this was born of conviction. It was born of a condition.

And that matters because if we only act when someone else is watching, is that still leadership or just performance?

Because trust, like currency, only works when it’s believed in by the people, not just the lenders.

We deserve laws that protect us, not because they’re profitable, but because they’re principled.

We deserve integrity as a foundation, not as a favour. We deserve leadership that acts from within, not one that waits to be prompted from without.