States efforts to build and strengthen accountability through investments in public finance management have failed to bear fruits after the country dropped further in the corruption perception index.
Latest findings show that Kenya obtained a score of 31 out of 100, a decline from a score of 32 points in 2022 and is ranked position 126 out of the 180 countries and territories assessed.
Kenya’s score (31 points) fell below the Sub-Saharan average score of 33 and the global average score of 43 (a score below 50 indicates serious levels of public sector corruption).
Last year the country saw a number of high profile corruption cases thrown out, the latest being former treasury CS Henry Rotich, and former NHIF Chief Executive Richard Kerich and four others who were freed in a Sh116.9 million graft case due to lack of evidence.
Transparency International attributes the drop in Kenya’s ranking to successful prosecution of very few graft cases in the recent past.
The report said the high number of cases either dragged excessively, withdrawn by the prosecution or resulted in acquittals with no publicly known efforts to review the withdrawn cases or appeal the cases lost have also cost the country in global ranking.
Transparency International says such controversial collapse of cases has eroded public confidence in the ODPP's office ability to uphold the rule of law.
“One glaring example is the Sh63 billion Arror-Kimwaror dam graft case, which is one among the several cases that are seemingly part of a broader pattern of controversies that have plagued the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions in the recent past,” the report says.
To show how corruption has been prevalent, in the period between 22 and 26 January 2024, the courts heard seven cases of corruption before it. Two of the cases were rulings, three cases were mentions and two were hearings.
Among the cases that were mentioned was that of ex-Machakos CEC Urbanus Musyoka involving Sh45.4 million irregular procurement cases.
The report raises issue with the attempts to water down some of the anti-corruption laws. These include proposals fronted last year by some legislators to repeal certain provisions of the anti-corruption legislation including the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act (ACECA), 2003.
The Act is a legislation that governs the investigation, prosecution and punishment of corruption and economic crimes.
Transparency International warns that should the amendments if implemented, could have undermined transparency, accountability and the rule of law, and eroded public trust ultimately encouraging corruption and reinforcing networks of impunity.
“Besides, the continued appointment of individuals with tainted integrity and persons accused of corruption to the helm of public service administration at both national and county levels continue to undermine the fight against corruption,” the report says.
A country’s score is the perceived level of public sector corruption on a scale of 0-100, where 0 means highly corrupt and 100 means very clean.
CPI measures how corrupt each country’s public sector is perceived by experts and business people.
The corruption watchdog, which is leading the fight against corruption, has said that most countries have made little or no progress in tackling the vice in more than a decade.
This, TI said, is amidst weakening justice systems across the world that continues to leave corruption unchecked.
According to TI, Rwanda tops the East African region with 53 points compared to 51 points in 2022, Tanzania scores 40 from 38, Uganda maintains a score of 26, and Burundi has 20 from 17 points in CPI 2022.
Countries that scored above the global average from the Sub-Saharan Africa region included Seychelles (71 points), Cabo Verde (64 points), Botswana (59 points), Rwanda (53 points), Mauritius (51 points), Namibia (49 points), and São Tomé and Príncipe (45 points).
TI assesses the perception of corruption using 13 data sources, including the World Bank, the World Economic Forum and private risk and consulting firms.
