By Tony James 27/09/2013.

"After this WestGate Atrocity, I really fear that corruption in Kenya is the root cause. The trouble is that I fear that this was just a starter, a taste of what might come.

I qualify for Kenyan citizenship by having been married to a Kenyan lady for 10 years, before she passed away

In December 2012, I applied for Kenyan citizenship through a solicitor, providing the necessary documents and affidavit. When the advocate approached the Immigration Office on my behalf, they refused to process the document, unless I agreed to pay a 600,000 Ksh bribe (200,000 Ksh up front, and the rest on delivery) I refused to do this. When I asked the advocate why it was so expensive, when the official fee was 20,000 Ksh, his slightly embarrassed reply was that others were paying this, and so the department were not signing anyone for citizenship without this 'Chai'. He also explained that the process required several signatories, and each one was demanding their fee, the final signatory demanding 200,000 Ksh. Again I demanded to know who on earth can be paying this high price for Kenyan citizenship! The reply came, 'Somali Al-Shabab!'

I was not convinced, so when a friend found out that close family friend of theirs was working in the citizenship department of the Immigration service, he went and talked to them. That person confirmed that the minimum chai required would be the fee, plus 520,000Ksh to pay off each signatory, the last one demanding 200,000 Ksh. The reason given - that Al Shabab people were happily paying this!

No alarm bells ringing there? there certainly were with me!

At this point, I realised that if so many al-shabab people were paying these prices to become Kenyan citizens, that Kenya would be an unsafe location to relocate to, and I decided to keep away, certainly from living there permanently, because the greed of Kenyan government officials were allowing dangerous criminals to become Kenyan citizens.

And now the WestGate incident has occurred, I hate to say that I made the right decision! And I doubt that will be the last incident too, when the government officials were happily collecting this fee from ANYBODY who was prepared to pay it!

There should be a serious attempt now to convict those corrupt immigration officers, who sold the lives and security of their own people, for the sake of a few bob!

Furthermore, there should be a serious security review of all citizenships that were handed out in the last couple of years, when these demands were in place and made to all applicants, even genuine ones like myself. Surely only those with an ulterior motive would have paid such corrupt demands."

I completely agree. If Uhuru really wants to fight terrorism, he should start by fighting corrupt government officials. The top level officials should be investigated and charged in a court of law, tough prison sentences will send a message to the rest not to even think of asking for a bribe, let alone taking it. Otherwise if Uhuru lets things go on as they always have, foreigners will pack and leave, including multinational companies, in the long run the terror attacks will leave Kenya a shell of a country. The west will not have to issue travel advisories because western citizens will warn each other through word of mouth, the most powerful form, completely destroying Kenyan tourism and economy. Don't just fire the corrupt officials, put them in jail for long terms, then completely flush out current employees, and bring in new ones with sufficient training and who know that taking a bribe, even a small one, will land them in jail. This is arguably the most important ministry in Kenya.

Well put. Ukweli mtupu...

Very true this.....I was chatting with an Ex-NSIS dude and i actually wanted to find out what happened to our once highly rated spy agency.In his view,which i hold to be true after looking around,is that to be an NSIS spy in this country,you must be well connected as the jobs are fairly well paid.Most of this officers drive good cars,have hefty alowances and have little time visiting the crannies and crime dens as they deem them low.Even if they did,they wouldn't fit well as they status wouldn't allow.What has happened then?.Information collection is so poor no wonder crime is spiraling out of hands.One other thing,unlike the previous spy agency (Special Branch),the current outfit was stripped of powers to edxecute and they relay or share information collected with the ever corrupt police force.You can safeely say therefore,that NSIS is as useless as a toothless bull-dog........IMHO,Kenya's police force,the spy agency,the traffic and the immigration departments, require complete and urgent surgery!

The cost will be high but not high enough to equal the worth of a single life.This,i support.