On Sunday 1st of September 2013, the Sunday Nation Newspaper published a head line under the title ‘Police mint millions as Kenyans die on roads’. The paper revealed that law enforcers in Kenya collude with cartels to break traffic rules. Senior and junior police officers collect at least Sh 9 million daily from PSV cartels, giving them the green light to break the law and ruin the lives of Kenyans without fear of arrest or prosecution, the paper added. The paper cited last Thursday night’s road accident on the Mai Mahiu – Narok road which killed more than 41 people as the latest example of the consequences of the greed within the Police and bus owners.
Commentary:
The evils of corruption and bribery are not only confined to the Police department but are prevalent in all departments in the Kenyan government. It is only recently that Transparency International issued a report that Kenya holds the number four spot in the world in terms of bribe taking. Current statistics show that town dwellers in Kenya bribe 16 times per month. While these are announced, the Kenyan government leads the world in setting up commissions purportedly to ‘fight’ corruption. The truth is that these commissions are but a cover to hide the corrupt individuals who are not only the police but also politicians.
True, this is not surprising but what is surprising is the possibility to not witness such evil in a society that is enslaved by the evil Capitalist thoughts. Its Aqeedah (creed) is corrupt and denies the Hukm of Allah Ta’ala to guide the lives of human beings but instead it advocates for them to be guided by corrupt man made laws. Additionally, this ideology has nurtured corrupt standards of measure in life which are matter, benefit and interest making money to be the most glorified thing. This is a society that labours under an ideology which believes in the evil creed of ‘the end justifies the means’.
ظَهَرَ الْفَسَادُ فِي الْبَرِّ وَالْبَحْرِ بِمَا كَسَبَتْ أَيْدِي النَّاسِ لِيُذِيقَهُمْ بَعْضَ الَّذِي عَمِلُوا لَعَلَّهُمْ يَرْجِعُونَ
“Corruption has appeared in both land and sea because of what people’s own hands have brought about so that they may taste something of what they have done so that hopefully they will turn back.”
(Ar-Rum, 30:41)
Certainly, it is narrow mindedness to think that solutions to these evils and all others can be found in a corrupt Capitalist system. The solution to these problems is found in a system that prohibits evil and built on a correct Aqeedah which is Islam. And this is due to Islam prohibiting bribery as it came in the hadith reported by Imams Ahmad, Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم cursed the bribe giver and taker. Additionally, the Aqeedah of the Islamic ideology satisfies the mind of human beings that they are created by Allah and brought to the world for the purpose of obedience to the system revealed by their Creator and they will be accounted on this earthly life. Based on this viewpoint, an Islamic society under the Islamic State of Khilafah cannot witness such disasters as witnessed in the Capitalist society.
Shabani Mwalimu
Media Representative
Hizb ut Tahrir East Africa