35% of Kenyans pay a bribe to get quick services – EACC

35 per cent of Kenyans would pay a bribe to get quick services, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission has said.

In the latest Corruption Survey released on Tuesday, EACC said while 18.7 per cent of Kenyans would bribe to get employment, another 14 per cent will give a general bribe to access services.

The report further indicates that 9.5 per cent will bribe to hasten services, 9.3 per cent to avoid problems with authorities and 5.9 per cent to avoid police arrest.

While 2.9 per cent of Kenyans bribe to access medical services, 1.6 per cent bribe to obtain an I.D.

Poverty and drought have also been featured in the list with 2.3 per cent of Kenyans reported having sought unethical means in order to deal with the situation.

Surprisingly, the number of Kenyans reporting corruption to the relevant authorities has dropped from 6.7 per cent in 2017 compared to 5.8 per cent in 2018.

The statistics have also shown that 1 per cent of Kenyans bribe in order to get fair ruling or to seek favour in courts.

The survey also shows that 20 per cent of the correspondents paid bribe to the Registrar of Persons followed closely by those who gave bribe to public hospitals.

The bribe given to the regular police stood at 17 per cent as 16 per cent was registered at chiefs offices compared to 6 per cent to the Ministry of Lands.

According to the survey, the average bribe has dropped from Sh5, 058 recorded in 2017 to Sh3,833 in 2018, the lowest recorded since 2012.

The EACC has said that the survey was comprehensive, covering all the 47 counties with 5,942 household respondents and 10 key informants, which was was conducted from November 16 to December 19, 2018.