GRAFT WAR: POLITICAL PARTIES IN A BID TO FRANTICALLY COVER THEIR MUCK.

H.L Mencken once said that “A good politician is quite as unthinkable as an honest burglar.” I cannot agree more with him particularly looking at what is unfolding in the war against the run-away corruption in this country. For close to a decade, the un-exhilarating, even drab note in the management of this country`s affairs has been the reluctance by the executive and particularly the President and the Prime Minister in decisively dealing with the lengthening list of corrupt public officers given that most of those indicted are the apples of their eyes. At best the fight against corruption has assumed party lines with each political party shouting itself hoarse about the others share of scandals. This blame game has as of today even been upped.

Amidst the bustling cacophony—the drill-like whine and roar of politicians going hammer and tongs against each other, we are hearing something else that is even more sinister: that the reverberating echoes will soon be followed by a deafening silence to allow both PNU and ODM to frantically and evenly cover their muck in the face of an increasingly hostile KACC and the public.

This is because both parties have realized that shouting themselves hoarse while pointing soiled fingers at each other will not help them an inch in the new constitutional dispensation. This is why hushed talks abound that the two antagonists have for purposes of political convenience quickly come up with an amalgam of tortured compromises that will see the party stalwarts within their ranks and files escape any censure in parliament. But there is even more than meets the eye in this unconditional ceasefire.

Even more worrying is the treacherous talk about the two parties silent pact to de-tooth KACC in a bid to put a permanent closure to the many genies of Anglo-leasing, Goldenberg, Grand Regency, Triton, maize and water scandals among many others hovering high above the heads of their party stalwarts. The reasoning behind this move is that if these genies are not bottled fast enough the political dreams of these party stalwarts (stepping stones to be more precise) will be severely jolted. So will be the lofty dreams of some of the presidential torch bearers in the 2012 presidential election be jolted.

From the foregoing, it is crystal clear that none of these parties can claim to have the country`s future nor goodwill at heart. Their actions and inactions are indication of parties that are trapped in short-term, zero-sum-calculations, where each party`s perceived gains are seen as the other party`s losses.

To be more precise, the country is basically in the firm grip of two bankrupt parties that have are busy bankrupting it. Theirs is an ossified two-party system that lacks integrity and any sense of courage or high-aspiration in confronting the spiraling corruption that has permeated all the crevices in government. Neither do our hopes for a better future lie in the emerging nor yet to be launched political parties because they are but a spitting image of what ails the country.

In my considered opinion, the two parties alongside their respective affiliates must forthwith spare us the circus and the sideshows in and out of parliament. In any case, parliament, like a mall, is alive with the din of yipping and the shrill cacophony of caged parrots. The public is acutely aware of the fact that many of our legislators are nothing more than guns for hire.

In this regard, I demand that legislators completely relinquish the fight against corruption to KACC. It is only KACC that can impartially interrogate and indict public officers suspected to have presided over this country`s steady incremental decline. Let them allow KACC to sweep their stables spotlessly clean and those who survive the integrity test can then contest for leadership positions.

Lastly, I implore the conscientious public to be eternally vigilant and to resist any attempts by parliament to emasculate KACC.

TOME FRANCIS,
BUMULA.
http://twitter.com/tomefrancis