A Taste of Kenyan Corruption

In my studies of Third World countries, I’ve read about the terrible corruption that plagues places like Kenya. Two days ago I got my very own taste of what it means to live in a nation where corruption permeates everyday life. A mere day after Ken finally got his and Aimee’s car out of the garage, he was pulled over by the police for not having his car registered properly. They called him a thief and threatened to have him to jail and his car to the impound lot. After negotiating with the cops for a bit, they decided that 50,000 shillings (or about $700) would be sufficient to bribe them off and ensure he would not be bothered again. $700! Delivered that day! What’s more, the only reason the car wasn’t registered was because the registration place also wanted a bribe to do things properly.

Aimee and I spent the entire day taking buses from the house to town to the international calling place to town again to the bank (which we now know close as early as 3pm) back to the house back to town, etc,etc…. while Ken was chatting up his new policeman “friend” and trying to persuade him to give him more time to get the money before he was thrown in jail. Luckily, Aimee’s mom in the U.S. was able to loan them the money and deposit it today. It made me wonder what the heck someone without those sorts of connections would do in the same situation. It was so easy to hate the policemen, but then you also realize that the whole system is set up to support this kind of thing and the cops’ livelihoods are dependent on these bribes since they are paid such small salaries by the government. If this corruption is so entrenched in every interaction between civilians and government agencies, how is it to be stopped? It sure made me appreciate the USA’s justice system that I so often take for granted. If this corruption is so entrenched in every interaction between civilians and government agencies, how is it to be stopped?