The fight against corruption has dominated many New Year addresses. From the churches, mosques to the parliament and the various commentaries, the tone has been one.

 

And a report by World Bank that the country losses an estimated Ushs900M in graft annually further vindicated the stance in the various speeches and opinions pieces. 

 

Of cause on the firing squad have been the holders of public offices –especially the ministers- and the President who seems reluctant to render more than lip service to the fight against corruption.

 

Not that the accused are exactly innocent; daily reports of unexplained expenditures in the excesses of billions of shillings and at times trillions have left them in such a hapless state. 

 

To this point I agree with most that indeed some of the public office holders are very corrupt perhaps beyond any redemption. It is after this point that I tend to divert from most who opine that if we get rid of the few rotten heads, it will lead to a corrupt-free nation.

 

In other words most observers preach that the war on corruption needs to be tackled from up – downwards. However, the reverse will yield better long term results. 

 

By definition corruption is loosely understood as stealing of public funds. But corruption is far more than mere stealing of public funds; it is lack of integrity which usually manifested in terms of dishonest practices especially to do with finances. And if this be the definition then most of us are guilty of corruption. 

 

For this reason I am unsure how most of us would fare if one day we replaced the very ministers and other public office holders we have christened all kinds of derogatory names

 

. For example some of the MPs that have become the faces of the anti-graft crusade have failed to return the Ushs20M they received under unclear circumstances, which makes their cries to kick corruption out of Uganda sound a little hollow. They come off like envious gluttons merely flexing their way to the top so they can also help themselves to larger funds.  If they fell to the temptation of a mere Ushs20M, how will they resist billions of oil-dollars? 

 

The “corporate” class is as guilty as the rest of the public. They really exude a lot of know-how when dissecting issues to do with corruption in various ministries and how it can be curbed. But they are very unwilling to tackle the issue of kick-backs usually disguised as commission that has riddled this particular sector. So if a person groomed in this kick-back culture makes his way to the top, as minister of finance, do you expect them to wake up suddenly and realize that corruption is bad? 

 

The media, the other front-line anti corruption crusaders, are as tainted as the rest of the society. Infamous for the phrase, “did you see your story” a euphemism for “please pay up”, the media have been far from the beacons of hope they are expected to be. Blackmail has also been cited in several instances, which again begs the question, if by a stroke of hard of work and luck one of such journalists ends up as minister of information, won’t he/she make off with a transmitter of a national broadcaster?  

 

The lower classes of society don’t fare any better either. Take the taxi drivers, whenever they sense an overwhelming number of travelers, they double the fares immediately and give no explanation at all. During the festive season they even triple the charges.

 

I wonder what would happen if one of these taxi drivers became the UTODA boss tomorrow. Would it be inconsistent to imagine him sleeping on a mattress stacked with billions of ill-gotten funds?  And these are the chaps that call during radio programs mourning how rotten our ministers are. 

 

The shopkeeper next door is not any different either. He/she also tries to rake in as much as they can. They usually charge double the price or at least sell at an amount substantially above the retail price. And while at it, they will be lamenting the astronomical transport fares to get you to symphasise with them as they rob you of your money.  So what will happen if that shopkeeper became the minister of trade one day? Do you think they will drop their sleazy ways?   

 

Therefore while majority of us may be pointing fingers up to the ministers, we are not faring any better. The only difference is that the ministers are exposed to a lot more that most of us and they are under more intense scrutiny by almost everyone.  Yet in percentages terms, we may be more corrupt than most of the public office holders. Take an example of the boda-boda guy that charges trice the fare of a given journey when the taxi guys go on strike. So most of the anti corruption cries come off as cries of envy that, “We are not eating as much as those guys above.”  

 

Yet hope is not all lost. Like an initiative that seeks to clean the entire city, begins with each person sweeping their homes, even the fight against corruption should take the same route. It should be taken back to homes. Parents should re-assume their duties of imparting morals into their kids. 

 

This particular duty had –in the past- been partially delegated to the schools and since many had religious foundations, well this seemed okay to an extent. But ever since the culture of commercialization stepped up several gears, imparting of morals fell by the way side as head teachers concentrated on how to get better grades since this is now the only guaranteed way of minting more money. 

 

In essence everyone should take responsibility to preach the virtues of integrity to their children. The busy work schedules that have taken a toll on almost everyone have barely left parents with time to talk to their children. But while this may be a fact, time to talk to children has to be deliberately set aside. The provision of food and school fees, important as it is, will only lead to a morally empty generation.   

 

Imparting of morals seems the only way a morally upright generation will be raised. Even when they are corrupted mid-way their lives, there remains hope that the seeds of good virtues planted in childhood may re-manifest themselves one time. 

 

Crucially this should not merely be lip-service, but the children need to see the parents actually living out the very virtues being preached. It will not make much sense for a parent to preach integrity to a child only to turn around and tell the very child to lie about the parent’s whereabouts when the landlord comes knocking or when UMEME comes in to inquire about dubious electricity connections. 

 

In the mean time, we the older generation, while pointing fingers, we should self check and clean up lest the war on graft turns into a pot-calling-the-kettle black scenario.