Keynote Address by Samuel Kimeu | TYC Anticorruption Photo And Video Contest Award Ceremony

On the 23rd of September, 2021 The Youth Café held a virtual award ceremony for the photo/video contest. This photo/video contest was part of a project The youth Café carried out aimed at engaging the youth against corruption and the closing civic space in Kenya. We were honoured to have a keynote address from Samuel Kimeu, who is the Executive Director of Africa’s Voices Foundation, and former Executive Director of Transparency International Kenya since 2010.

He previously served as a Governance Specialist at the Embassy of Finland in Nairobi and the Executive Director of the Kenyan Section of the International Commission of Jurists. He has also taught law at the Kenyatta University School of Law in Nairobi-Kenya.

He is an advocate of the High Court of Kenya and a member of both the Law Society of Kenya and the East African Law Society. He holds a Master of Laws degree in International Human Rights from the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, USA. He received his Bachelor of Law degree from the University of Nairobi. Mr. Kimeu is currently serving as an elected member of The African Union Advisory Board on Corruption (AUABC) since August 2019 and The Board of Transparency International since October 2017.

This was his inspiring speech:

“Congratulations to Damaris Aswa, Boniface Munene and Brian Omondi Odhiambo who have won this competition and others who participated in this competition in one way or another. It is always a pleasure to have your efforts recognized but maybe I should start from there when it comes to fighting against corruption, it’s quite rare then you should count yourselves quite privileged for the honour.

Otherwise other challenges that usually accompanies those who fight against corruption is the uncertainties around their safeties but in general, the reward against the fight against corruption is the great investment we make in the current and the future of our society and that the future generation will live in a better society than this.

First let me introduce the African’s Voice Foundation, the organisation that I am currently working with and because I have seen a lot of convergence of views and ideas among you. What Africa’s Voice Foundation actually does and stands for, is to create a platform of engagement between policymakers, leaders and citizens. This is done using a combination of a radio/mass media broadcast, primarily radio then we combine that with SMS short codes, where we ask citizens to respond to questions /give their views on a certain topic of interest that is going on in a radio show.

We then make use of this information to make analysis using the conventional social science analysis method to understand better what citizens think about a particular topic. Many would see this as a research product but we see it primarily as governance space, since it creates a platform for engagement, then you should think of it as taking it from a physical space from town hall meetings, church and other similar physical meetings into mass media space.

We then amplify the number of people who can participate in a particular topic and have their data analyzed, otherwise what majorly brings us all in here today is the fight against corruption. My apologies to those who are not based in Kenya because my perception about this issue will be based on Kenyan experience, although my remarks can be applied generally across the board.

We think of corruption as the abuse of entrusted power for private gain, you realize that in Kenya and the rest of African countries the issue of corruption is extensive. The problem has quite grown since the colonial era up to date. We can say on average most African countries have been independent for close to 50 years or about, for the last, we have seen this issue is a threat to our very existence as a nation and it undermines our ability fundamentally as a nation to progress as the continent and meet the basic necessity of our people.

Let me focus on what the youth could do to fight against corruption and there is hardly anything new to be said beyond what many of you have spoken before. The youth are the majority of Africa's population, those below 35 years. Those above 35 years do not stand a greater chance than those below 35 years to fight against corruption because they are outnumbered. The youth need to take action, their prime of place in the management of affairs and the agitation for better governance.

The present and the future belong to the youth and they must play a role in shaping it, unlike our generation you are instilled with knowledge and intellect that many of us didn't acquire through education. The people before us didn't have the chance like the youth of today have, you have the technology that you can easily connect.

The youth have least invested in corruption but this doesn't mean there is no youth who engage in corruption but the track record of the youth engagement in corruption is minimal and they have the least interest in it. This means the future is for you more than the past and therefore you must contend for that future driven by value and good governance because you have the energy and time in the fight against corruption, also you are more receptive to social change and political transformation.

I have listened to a number of youth and non-youth speak about the place of youth, the first thing is to confuse youth with innocence and integrity. I think there is nothing that can be far from the truth, as youth must deliberately turn the benefit of their youth into a quest for advocating for better governance and a value system to be proud of.

I have seen and listened to the excellent work done by the youth who have spoken and posted on the chats that there is clear agitation to fight against corruption, to do so you need the courage and reach out to others to make them aware so that in case of trouble or threats you can easily be rescued. If you find yourself in our system chances are that you are doing something impactful.

Today I saw a couple of youth being convicted for agitating over a piece of land that clearly belongs to a police post in Kitengela and are fined 50,000Ksh and three years imprisonment. As a youth you can speak your voice on our platform that I earlier mentioned, you can either tweet, post a video or contribute some amount of money to support a colleague in agitating for change.

I have heard from quite a number of youth how they have gone about accessing information in the counties and how financial resources are managed and they use the information to agitate for accountability, this is excellent. We have come from a history of official government secrets acts, one of the things that is a deficit in this country is accountability.

We need to push for more access to information and use this information as knowledge to mobilize and transform the mass not only the youth but also other segments and sectors in our society against corruption. The youth globally have been using some tools to try to inform and mobilize each other against corruption like integrity clubs and summer schools that teach anti-corruption.

There is misinformation about the debts in this country, anyone in the government will tell you that we are within our borrowing limits but is that the truth? So I challenge you to take time and look into this today. Previously as an executive director of transparency international Kenya I raised the concern of debt that is about 6 years ago, at that point in time the debt level was almost half of where we are today.

Over the years the debt gained, many will not see the relationship between the debts, that is the fee increment, the high cost of fuel and the high cost of living. This means over the years there will be fewer and fewer opportunities for youth, there will be poor access to medical services and fewer education subsidies due to a lack of good governance that is diminishing over time.

Our leaders today will tell us our infrastructure is great although it must be done within the limits of what we can afford there is a lot to be done and within what time frame since there is an infrastructure deficit that needs to be plugged so a lot needs to be done. As a youth, you need to elect leaders of integrity because we make the bigger percentage of the population.

In 2011 when we were putting the integrity act, one of the political leaders said they are happy to approve the law but the law is weakened so that it cannot be an obstacle to them. As a youth, we must pursue a better country.

In conclusion, there is no big difference between the fight against corruption and the fight against colonialism this is just a reflection. The people who fought against colonialism are the youth so are we to fight against corruption. The old saying goes, “the arc of history is long but it tends towards justice.” That is the inspiration to hold onto and if you feel like you are wavering and inadequate ask yourself what the likes of Dedan Kimathi had in their hands to become freedom fighters that are the challenge that I leave you with today.”

The Youth Café works with young men and women around Africa as a trailblazer in advancing youth-led approaches toward achieving sustainable development, social equity, innovative solutions, community resilience and transformative change.