War on Corruption: A Whimper

The Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission has published its report for the 1st quarter of 2005. In three months the KACC investigated only seven cases and recommended further prosecution in four of these. The cases included:

- A 25,000 shilling bribe allegation against 2 Nairobi Water Council employees
- A pension department officer who solicited a 3,000 shilling bribe
- A false wealth declaration made by an employee of the Ministry of Home Affairs,
- An allegation of misuse of AIDS funds by an NGO
- Investigation of a free hotel stay by an employee of the Retirement Benefits Authority

The other three dealt with Anglo Leasing. As far as the KACC is concerned Anglo Leasing is a closed matter since the company repaid 375 million shillings ($4.4 million) to the Government. The KACC recommended, and the AG has duly charged Zakayo Cheruyiot (former PS in Office of the President), John Agili (finance officer in Office of the President), Sylvester Mwaliko (former PS in Office of the Vice President), Joseph Magari (former PS in the Ministry of Finance) Wilson Sitonik (former director of IT at the Treasury) and David Onyonka (former finance official at the Treasury Department) with various crimes related to Anglo-Leasing.

It appears that KACC only responds to complaints lodged (i.e. they don’t respond to media reports on corruption) I’d like to encourage the KACC to initiate their own investigations (like Elliot Spitzer in New York) and not just sit and wait for complaints. For an organization whose budget runs into the tens of millions, they are on pace to investigate only 30, mostly minor, cases in what is ranked as one of the most corrupt countries in the world. Hopefully issues that dominate the media such as Kenyatta National Hospital, military procurement deals and the other 20 cases handed to the President by Sir Edward Clay.