Latest update November 29th, 2024 1:00 AM
Citizens are duty-bound to ensure elected leaders manage resources for generations to come – Kenyan Anti-corruption Leader
Kaieteur News – Often times, citizens sit back and the lay the blame solely at the feet of their elected leaders for mismanaging their resources; however, they too have a duty to ensure that the nation’s patrimony is protected for the sake of the next generation.
Kenyan Anti-corruption Legend, Professor Patrick Loch Otieno Lumumba
This is the position of Kenyan anti-corruption legend, Professor Patrick Loch Otieno Lumumba who made a special appearance on The Glenn Lall Show on Saturday last. Professor Lumumba in prefacing his point about safeguarding a nation’s wealth for future generations explained that bad deals can be entered into by governments who are poorly advised by hired negotiators. In fact, he noted that many countries find themselves in such a dilemma.
He shared that he was recently involved in negotiating a contract for Liberia with a Chinese company. The company he said supplied the agreement and included a clause for any disputes between the parties to be resolved in Beijing. The anti-corruption genius said he objected to this provision, adding that had this not been properly vetted, the country would have accepted for resolutions to be decided in that company’s home country or “the home of the hyenas” where the people can be “eaten alive”.
Moving forward, the anti-corruption legend urged that leaders ensure sufficient expertise is recruited to negotiate on behalf of the country. Moreover, the Professor said that citizens must ensure they too protect the country’s resources. He explained, “Sometimes we blame these multinational (companies) but they also take advantage of our own weaknesses because we don’t present our best and we don’t put our best foot forward and sometimes governments are also desperate. You find yourselves in a situation where you want money and some of these fellows are going to tell you, you must sell us (resources) for the next several years and then we are going to give you money to build roads and to finance your hospitals, finance your agriculture so that you look good before the electorate, so that you are elected, and when you are elected, we know that our interests are being protected so it is a myriad of this”
To this end, Professor Lumumba noted, “It is our duty therefore to ensure that we safeguard our countries so that we are not beholden to these individuals because of the next elections but we are protecting our patrimony for the sake of the next generation.”
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