By SIMEON NYACHAE

'It is meaningless for voters to complain of corruption if they offer kitu kidogo; it is meaningless for businessmen to complain of corruption in contracts if they give bribes' to win tenders. It takes two to tango.

It is hardly surprising that, after the suicide bomb attack on Mombasa's Paradise Hotel, Kenyans are thinking about security, or the lack of it.

The outrage and the diabolic attempt to down an Israeli airliner were both cruel reminders of the random danger of terrorism. 

Undoubtedly, the Government could have done more to protect its citizens and their foreign visitors.

Now we hear of threats to the British High Commission and the Israeli Embassy in Nairobi and there are reports of bomb-making materials found in our capital. 

Both our security services and our people need to be on high alert for any suspicious activity and strenuous efforts must be made by all Kenyans to combat the terrorist menace.

Yet the bitter truth is that this is one modern ill in society that cannot be laid at the feet of President Moi and his administration. 

As the Americans discovered on that terrible day, September 11, 2001, even the most sophisticated societies, equipped with the very latest technologies, cannot insure themselves against suicide-bomber fanatics.

If Kenya really wants to address the pressing issue of security – or rather insecurity – then there are other matters on which we should concentrate, matters closer home than the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

These are the three Cs: Crime, criminality and corruption. These are matters that directly affect every man, woman and child in our society.

Many Kenyans are suffering because of intermittent problems of cattle-rustling in parts of the North Rift and the banditry menace in parts of North Eastern Province. 

The security problems are aggravated by the proliferation of small arms from across some of our unstable neighbours and our own internal weaknesses in managing security. 

It is unacceptable that we still experience cattle rustling, four decades after independence. 

Arguably this is a problem brought about by the fact that some communities or sections of society are armed while others are not. Cattle rustling can be sorted out if the communities involved are aided to adopt new and more modern ways of life by addressing livestock farming effectively. 

This is why I have proposed economic reforms to help open up some of the pastoralist areas, especially by constructing abattoirs close to grazing areas.

The same goes for traffic in drugs and arms. More can be done to battle these terrible poisons. Under a Ford-People government, I pledge, more will be done. 

At an absolute minimum, I am committed by my contract with Kenya to ensure that the police are retrained, re-equipped and remotivated. These vital defenders of a healthier society have been ignored and abused over the years and need to be recognised and encouraged. 

That they have become part of the problem is hardly surprising to those who have been following the goings-on in the country.

Yet, for the average Kenyan, it is not the international terrorist or the cattle raider or yet the arms or drug trader who makes our lives a misery. It is – I regret to say – his fellow Kenyan. 

The wave of crime that affects everyone of us has destroyed the quality of life in this nation. Twenty years ago, there was a climate of mutual trust. Members of most communities were happy to leave their doors open and property exposed because they were confident that thieves and burglars would not raid them.

Even at the city centre, people would stroll happily in the streets in the cool of the evening, unafraid of marauding robbers or pocket-pinching children.

Today, we live like a society under siege. There is a huge growth in the security industry as private companies mushroom to do the job that the Government and the police force were meant to do for us out of the tax money we pay. 

The affluent spend fortunes turning their houses into fortresses – hiring security guards and elaborate alarm systems and wiring their walls with electrified fences. Those with less wealth hurry home in matatus before sunset to protect their vulnerable families. Everywhere there is suspicion and fear.

This perversion of normal life is intolerable for everyone. Furthermore, it deeply damages every aspect of our society, from the economy itself to even our mental wellbeing.

Let us look at the economy alone. After the Mombasa blast, nobody can doubt the impact of insecurity on tourism. So far, the travel industry has not yet reported major cancellations. 

But we all know that thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of people who may have been contemplating the costly luxury of a visit to our beaches and game parks may now opt for another destination.

Tourists are already intimidated by the dire reputation of violence in Nairobi. If this were not the case, how many more would we welcome and how many more millions of dollars would flow into our economy? 

Even before the Mombasa tragedy, tourism was only beginning to recover from the damage done by the tribal clashes five years ago. The new setback is frankly a disaster.

Violence and criminality also seriously affect our capacity to attract foreign investment. Many people have remarked how in the early 1960s our economy was more or less on a par with that of South Korea and Taiwan. Now we are miles behind them.

There may be many factors behind this. But one of them, without doubt, is the fear companies have of sending senior executives to live and work here because they do not wish to bring their families to live in our country for fear of crime and carjackings. 

No such fear exists in the Far East.

Why has this come about in our country? The answer –indeed, the responsibility – lies with politicians and ordinary citizens.

It lies with politicians because we have set a bad example to the people. The perception – the accurate perception – of widespread dishonesty in public office hardly encourages the citizen to be honest. 

How can we ask a street child who has not enough to eat to stop pick-pocketing money from passers-by when ministers are plundering millions from the Treasury?

But citizens also have their responsibility. It is meaningless for voters to complain of corruption if they are feeding the monster by offering kitu kidogo every day of their lives. 

When businessmen complain of the corrupt awarding of contracts, it is meaningless if they themselves offer "commissions" under the table to win tenders. It takes two to tango.

We need a cultural change to end this vicious circle, which has reduced Kenya to an international pariah after being named the sixth most corrupt country on earth. 

All sections of society – professionals, religious groups and the business community – should begin a nationwide campaign to rid ourselves of this perverse and immoral behaviour.

If elected, I shall launch just such a campaign backed by a massive publicity programme aimed at persuading Kenyans that a corrupt culture damages each and every one of us and must end. 

And I will ask Parliament to introduce tough punishment for anyone caught perpetrating this evil that has so demoralised our society. 

Finally, I will ensure that the Judiciary is subjected to top-bottom reforms so that judges – the people who should uphold the law – do their duty. Those unable or unwilling to do so must and will be replaced. 

Another cause of crime, of course, is our appalling prisons. The treatment of prisoners is a recipe for more crime. It is my aim to improve the conditions in our prisons and to attempt to give prisoners, through training, skills that will benefit them when they return to normal life. 

Only by so doing can we substantially save prisons from being universities of crime.

Crime is the bitter fruit of economic failure. It is brought about by despair. It also makes economic failure more likely.

Greek philosopher Aristotle said: "Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime". 

He could not have been more right. It is simply impossible to address crime in the context of rampant poverty in our country, where about 56 per cent of the total population lives below the poverty line. 

Lack of contentment increases the temptation to commit crime.

Therefore, no one doubts that economic success – growth and jobs – is ultimately the best solution to this problem. 

Put food in the stomach of the street child, send him to school and he will be less likely to steal. 

Give a job to the family man and he will earn his money honestly. Make people secure financially and they will not steal. 

Evidence around the world shows that the health of a country’s economy contributes largely to the moral and ethical health of a society. Wealth and prosperity are the best instruments to reduce crime and corruption.

Ultimately, the problem of insecurity is arguably the greatest single difficulty facing our society. 

For that reason I – and thousands of other Kenyans – know in our hearts that to eliminate insecurity, we must first eliminate economic insecurity. 

Only then will we get the nation out of the ICU and back to work.

Mr Nyachae is the Ford People presidential candidate

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