Schools May Provide the Key to Insuring Kenya’s Future Against Corruption

It is gratifying to note that key leaders in Government have today bolstered the war on corruption by publicly demonstrating their disdain for corrupt practices as well as castigating corrupt individuals as those who are unworthy of emulation and unfit to hold public office.  A section of Kenyans also deserves applause for their alertness and keenness to report dubious transactions in both the County and National Governments which, unlike in the past, do not occur unnoticed. This notwithstanding, as we scorn, investigate, arrest and charge corrupt leaders, we should also as a country reflect on the root cause of corruption and take a determined position to insure our future against it.

Rampant corruption secured accommodation in Kenya when we lost focus on ethical values as the main qualifiers for our educational curriculum, placement in jobs, promotions and celebrities, and bartered these for intellectual prowess and materialism. A lot of today’s corrupt leaders were never properly nurtured by their parents at home, or teachers at school and neither did the church/mosque nor the educational system prioritize their good character building.  This character deficiency is apparent in leaders who, with moral dwarfness, desire to own the whole world if it were possible; people who compete to be materially better than everyone else rather than seek richness in values such as honesty, humility and fear of God.

To reclaim a corruption free country, the education system in both its formal and non-formal dimensions must be reformed to conform to the standards of a true education that appeals to the intellect as well as the morals. There are several religious focused curricular in the world which can be contextualized to salvage us from our current dungeon. Additionally, stringent laws and penalties should be applied to those who are sufficiently suspected to promote or protect corrupt dealings.

It has been both gratifying and refreshing to witness many schools, with the help of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, establish Integrity Clubs. The essence of these clubs is to enable students to:

• discuss ways of eradicating corruption within the school environment;
• look out for stolen items and reconnect them with the owners:
• generate weekly values to be observed by the entire school;
• engage in indoor and outdoor cleaning and charity services; and
• establish entrepreneurship and survival enterprises, and install posters and notices on anti-corruption within the schools.

When fully embraced and sustained, this initiative will gradually raise a generation which will despise the example of current corrupt leaders and use its moral stamina to revolutionize the public sector and the general society. By learners practicing honesty in handling of examinations, school levies, school property and, above all, acknowledging the commandments of God, of the country and the school, we can with certitude insure the future of Kenya against corruption.

It is imperative that parents, teachers, religious leaders and the government confederate, through their moral examples and ideological support, ensure that ethical values are inculcated in the young people to prepare them to resist any corrupt insinuations.