Diaspora Kenyans, Ndara B Community, and Kenyans getting jobs in the Diaspora University Town (DUT) have created the anti-corruption 15-member team. Speaking during the meeting that created the team, Dr. Wilson Endege of Boston, MA said, “Too much time has been wasted in the last 7 years. It is now 5 years since Ndara B Community joined the project. Persons in Government have delayed and continue to delay DUT project as they break Kenya laws with impunity because they are ‘THE GOVERNMENT,’ and have to be bribed.”
Dr. Endege added that the effect of this on the project is the loss of precious time and capital. The Diaspora lose capital returns, Ndara B Community members lose income, and young Kenyans remain jobless, and time wasted can never be recovered. He said, “This cannot continue.”
Dr. Endege who wrote an open letter to the President said that a President or any other political or constitutional office holder should never deny the next generation their rights by allowing corruption. He informed the meeting that when the corrupt systems of the U.S were defeated the jobs created led to thousands of Kenyans and persons from all over the world flocking to the U.S as the country created millions of new jobs.
Speaking on the gains of jobs creation that Kenyans got in the U.S and other countries in the Diaspora he said, “Today the Kenya Newspapers are reporting that Diaspora remitted Kshs 392 billion in the last 12 months. Another paper is reporting the Diaspora remitted Kshs 300 billion in the first 9 months of 2021 ending September 2021.”
He said that as he read the newspaper articles, he wondered how much money of the more than Kshs 1.5 trillion remitted by the Diaspora in the last 5 years (2016 – 2021) would have come to Taita Taveta County to develop the Diaspora University Town if the Kenya Constitution was followed by those in the government offices created by the Constitution. He asked, “How many jobs would be created so far?”
In answering his question, Dr. Endege, a scholar and scientist who is working on three jobs creation projects: Diaspora University, DUT Medical Hospital, and Daktari Biotechnology for medicines and vaccines production said, “Personally, I’m tired of hearing of these people in Government offices who behave as though they own Kenya. To me, this is a war that must be fought!“
In their declaration of war against corruption the Diaspora Kenyans, Ndara B Community, and young Kenyans getting jobs agreed that change must occur in Kenya. They stated that Kenyans in government offices should be made to stop the delays of constitutional services as they look for bribes. They stated that Government jobs and services are created for advancing economic and social rights and not to enrich a few as they enslave others.
When referencing the song Corruption that was sung by the TAT artists who are members of Ndara B Community and are now part of the DUT anti-corruption team Dr. Endege said, “When the young artists sang the song corruption, they spoke to us not to deny the young generation their future. Corruption has to be defeated and killed as the artists said.”
Discussing how corruption can be ended, the meeting stated that the President, Cabinet Secretaries (C.S), and Principal Secretaries (P.S) can end corruption. The Kenyans meeting felt that a C.S or P.S who does not have zero corruption policy in their ministry entertains corruption.
The 15-member anti-corruption team created goal is to fight corruption so that jobs creation at DUT and in Kenya can be fast-tracked. The team is made up of Diaspora Kenyans, Ndara B Community members, and persons in Kenya in the DUT project. Our ultimate goal is to grow the anti-corruption fight into a grassroots organization countrywide that motivates young people to take a lead in steering their future into a future community that does not tolerate nor enable corruption in the Kenyan society.
Dr. Endege who shall lead the team said that they shall meet every two weeks and shall receive names of persons in Government offices who delay government services because of Corruption. The team shall update the Diaspora, the Community, and Kenyans interested in seeing jobs created. The person who is found to be delaying jobs creation shall be removed from the government office.
We cannot fund a government office, then pay a person to occupy the office and give essential services needed so others can get jobs only for the person to use the office to delay jobs creation when they have a job.
Ndara B Community members who shall be part of the anti-corruption team vowed that a person who gets a job in Taita Taveta government offices and makes income shall not use the public office to deny them their rights.
