Corruption in Kenya is systemic and
goes beyond individuals to the structural
and institutional levels. In 2009, the
former United States Secretary of State
Clinton noted in a speech in Nairobi,
‘the absence of strong and effective
democratic institutions has permitted
on-going corruption, impunity, politically
motivated violence and a lack of respect
for a rule of law’. Clinton further said that
‘true economic progress … also depends
on responsible governments that reject
corruption, enforce the rule of law, and
deliver results for their people’.
Primary Factors
The
centralised
and
personalised
presidential power that emerged under
President Moi resulted in what can only
be characterised as the total exercise of all
power attached to national sovereignty.
The result has been a perverse corruption
in the country to the level of the citizenry
adapting to it. It is now the norm!
I was not a voter in 2002, but I remember
the campaigns. Mwai Kibaki campaigned
and won the hearts of Kenyans by
promising to form a government that was
committed to good governance and the
rule of law. His campaigns were hinged
on an anti-corruption fulcrum. He won
by getting a whopping 62 per cent of the
votes. It should be noted that it was the
first time since independence that Kenya
had a transfer of power through elections,
and thus the beginning of some dramatic
anti-corruption reforms. Every Kenyan
Kibaki started well. You may recall the
removal of corrupt judges, the passage
of a new procurement law, and the
strengthening of the Controller and
Auditor General’s Office as his almost
immediate actions when he took office.
These resulted in a surge in national
and international optimism about the
direction the country was taking and
expectations that improved governance
would lead to a more secure and
prosperous country, with less corruption.
However, the early governance reforms
of 2002 and 2003 soon floundered,
undermined by new allegations of
corruption and the resurfacing of previous
ones. World Bank noted that ‘The
administration’s reformist credentials
were badly eroded following the revelation
of a number of high-profile corruption
scandals in 2006 that implicated senior
members of the government’.
We seemed to have gone back to our
Factory Settings. What had begun as a
promising experiment in governance in
the African context increasingly led to
disillusionment of the hopeful citizens.
Decision making was paralysed by power-
plays and we soon went back to the old
and probably more comfortable practices
of corruption, impunity, and subversion of
formal institutions by informal ones.
I was looking at examples of the scope
and magnitude of public sector initiated,
or involvement in, corruption in the
Secondary Factors
There are some secondary factors that
have contributed to corruption in Kenya.
One of these factors is the high incidence
of bribery. Whatever the transaction
- getting a driver’s licence, a national
identity card, tax administration decisions,
and government contracts for goods and/
or services, for example - it requires the
bureaucratic exercise of assumed powers.
This, in turn, means that bribes are
demanded and have to be paid for the
transactions to be completed. This can be
regarded as the systematic exploitation of
illegal income-earning opportunities by
public officials and the enhancement of
rent-seeking opportunities.
Incentives for corrupt behaviour have
therefore arisen in Kenya, as well as in
some other African states, because public
officials have considerable control over
the instruments regulating valuable socio-
economic benefits and private parties are
willing to make illegal payments to secure
those benefits.
I came across several completed surveys
leading to a great deal of evidence
about the extent of bribery in Kenya.
Transparency International-Kenya, for
example, regularly publishes The Kenya
Bribery Index and the East African
Bribery Index which are compiled from
surveys that capture bribery corruption as
experienced by ordinary citizens in their
interaction with officials of both public and
private organisations. Surveys conducted
between 2008 and 2012 indicate that
between 30 and 56 per cent of respondents
encountered bribery in their interactions
with both public and private organisations.
The bribery culture in the country has
seeped into the Parliament, given the
numerous accusations of bribery in the
August House. The media has frequently
reported corrupt dealings involving
Members of Parliament inside the House,
with money frequently changing hands
to influence the outcome of some House
This undermining of rule of law has
grown to near uncontrollable levels. We
started small, we have grown to levels
that surprise us, can you imagine! We are
now in a place where ethical leadership
and public accountability are seriously
lacking. We are unable to hold public
officials responsible for their actions.
And because the public officials know of
this inability, they have grown extremely
irresponsible, leading to much cynicism
among Kenyans.
hoped that things were getting better.
country and was blown away by the lists
available. Global Integrity (2009), and
Wikipedia (2010), for instance, compiled
timeline dossiers which put the value of
these corrupt activities as hundreds of
billion Kenyan shillings (tens of billion
US dollars) between 1990 and 2009. This
represented considerable revenue leakage
with severe consequences for development
and economic progress in the country.
The primary cause of corruption in Kenya
is therefore related to a societal state of
being whereby the basic institutions that
underpin and support the rule of law and
good governance have been deliberately
undermined or neglected to the point
where they can no longer uphold the rule
of law or act in the best interest of the
nation.
Corruption has per-
sisted and increased
over the years de-
spite strength in the
legal system because
there are people in
power who benefit
from it and the ex-
isting governance in-
stitutions lack both
the will and capaci-
ty to stop them from
doing so.
The Nelson Mandela 100 Years
PAPU Commemorative Stamp Issue
Release Date : 9th October 2018
52 MAL29/19 ISSUE
5
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