A nation of Frauds

The good news of former colonial masters granting ex gratia to its victims during the Kenyan war for independence has been greeted with mixed reactions.

Concerns are gathering over the vultures swooping over the 1.8 billion compensation money. From fake claimants, to alleged home guards (who helped Britain perpetrate the atrocities being compensated) to advocates (who have been put on notice not to charge claimants), it is being proven that Kenyans are characteristically fraudulent.

Compensation in Kenya has always been faced with this same old culture of strategic positioning of non beneficiaries to reap the compensation at the expense of the deserved victims. During the forced Mau evictions, this same clout joined the evictees hoping to get resettled with the victims claiming to be squatters too.

The same scenario presented itself during the IDP after the 2007 chaotic elections where resettlement, to date has been marred by fake claimants and recompense is being seen to go to opportunists while victims continue to languish in camps.

 This national aberration towards fraud leaves a lot to be desired about our country and deserves national condemnation akin to that being meted to #Mpigs greed and underscores what Hon. Duale said about Kenyans being just as greedy as their leaders.

During the distribution of subsidized unga (maize meal) by the Kenyan government during a crisis i witnessed first hand this culture of fraud. The unga meant for the poor who could not afford the high priced off-the-shelf commodity was being acquired in large scale by rich Kenyans, and unscrupulous business men who repackaged and made a killing from it. Most of the poor who could not afford the ten kiliogram package did not benefit.

To demonstrate the vitriol of our  society, the people responsible for distributing the compensations were at the fore of the malaise, encouraging their relatives and friends to come benefit from the ‘freebie’ and serving these nepotic polity with priority over the real victims being targeted.

This malaise ought to be confronted and condemned if we are to purge our society of greed from the leaders to the led.

Notwithstanding this malaise as adverse as it is in Kenya knows no borders. After the Boston bombings in America, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley warned that within four hours of the bombing, more than 125 websites had been registered purportedly to collect money for victims most of them fraudulent.