• EACC says the current Leadership and Integrity Act has no coercive mechanism (offenses and penalties) to enforce compliance including removal from Office.
• The wealth declaration process is generally manual which hinders effective management of the declarations.
Image: FILE
Corruption in Kenya has a history that spans the era of former Presidents Jomo Kenyatta and Daniel arap Moi's KANU governments, Mwai Kibaki's PNU government and the current Uhuru Kenyatta's Jubilee Party government.
In the Corruption Perceptions Index 2019, Kenya is ranked 137th out of 180 countries with the highest corruption.
The vice remains a hidden tax to the country's economic growth with tendering fraud being the fastest economic crime.
Corruption is widespread and companies frequently encounter demands for bribes and informal payments to 'get things done'.
The public procurement sector suffers widespread corruption.
For the past two years, Kenya has lost over Sh30 billion through corruption.
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission- EACC reports it has recovered Sh13 billion following the conclusion of 180 graft cases it had filed between 2014 and 2019.
The graft agency says out of the 180 concluded cases, it won 130, which resulted in the recovery of the money.
The Commission's Chief Executive Twalib Mbarak said during the period under review, investigations into 844 cases had been concluded and the files handed over to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
In the same period, Mbarak said the commission managed to recover corruptly acquired public property valued at Sh19.9 billion.
Among the assets recovered include public land, unexplained wealth, government houses, public utilities, road reserves, among others.
According to the agency, cases against Sirisia MP John Waluke, former nominated Senator Joy Gwendo, former Eldoret MP Peris Chepchumba and former permanent secretary Sammy Kipng’etich are among high profile cases that were successfully convicted.
Nairobi County tops with 148 graft cases, followed by Mombasa at 57 cases and Kisumu with 43 cases.
The Commission hopes to recover Sh5 billion and Sh900 million from Nairobi and Mombasa respectively if the cases are won.
Some of the top officials being prosecuted by the commission for graft are governors Mike Sonko (Nairobi), Moses Lenolkulal (Samburu), Sospeter Ojaamong (Busia), Okoth Obado (Migori) as well as former governors Ferdinand Waititu (Kiambu), Daniel Waithaka (Nyandarua) and Evans Kidero (Nairobi).
EACC said Sh545 billion in unexplained wealth from State officials had been confiscated and would be surrendered to the government.
The Commission in the execution of its mandate works with other government institutions and agencies and strategic partners like GIZ, Serious Fraud Office, Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), Interpol and Europol, among others.
The graft agency argues that corruption has continued to manifest because the current Leadership and Integrity Act has no coercive mechanism (offences and penalties) to enforce compliance including removal from offices as contemplated under the Constitution.
Mbarak in his remarks said though in the last five years the agency has undertaken integrity vetting of over 30,000 persons seeking appointment to public office, there remains an inadequate legal framework to provide for a comprehensive mechanism to bar and sanction persons who are adversely implicated for breach of Chapter 6 of the Constitution.
“The objective is to bind leaders appointed and elected to State Offices to uphold the integrity and desist from engaging in corrupt conduct while exercising public authority. Over 70% of State Officers elected or appointed to public office have committed to these Codes,” he said.
The commission however relies on the declarations as a critical tool in the detection and investigation of corruption and economic crimes. The declaration process is generally manual which hinders effective management of the declarationsEACC CEO Twalib Mbarak
Mbarak said Public Officer Ethics Act of 2003 has not been aligned to the Constitution to ensure holders of offices created under the 2010 Constitution e.g. Governors submit their declarations of income, assets and liabilities.
Corruption has grown 240% over 5 years
Interior PS Karanja Kibicho last year in a sworn affidavit admitted that corruption in Kenya has grown by a massive 240 per cent over the past five years.
The PS listed a number of corruption cases that cost taxpayers billions of shillings as a result of flawed procurement processes alone since the Jubilee administration took office in 2013.
Among the key scandals, the PS singled out the illegal purchase of land by the National Housing Corporation amounting to Sh400 million.
The other included the purchase of a computerised conference management system at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre at a cost of 597 million.
Kibicho said a further Sh58 million was lost in irregular procurement of machines and Sh65 million for the construction of a library and ICT resource centre by the NYS.
According to the PS, Sh302 million was lost in consultancy fees.
Statistics indicate that there were 3,355 corruption cases in the country before the Jubilee administration took power in March 2013.
The number has, however, risen over the years and it currently stands at 8,044 cases.
As this unfolds, President Uhuru Kenyatta last week directed the graft agency to move swiftly and investigate yet another scandal that has hit the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority - KEMSA
Uhuru as in all other cases said all persons found to be culpable from the ongoing investigations on Covid funds should be brought to book notwithstanding their social status or political affiliations.
Kemsa has been in the spotlight after it emerged that officials dished out tenders to mysterious entities under the cover of the Covid-19 pandemic.
This came hot on the heels of an audit that exposed procurement and financial irregularities that put at risk more than Sh100 billion of donor funds and taxpayers' money.
Health CS Mutahi Kagwe and his PS Susan Mochache are facing tough times after Parliament summoned them over alleged misappropriation of Covid-19 fund.
This is after the Kemsa board pointed a finger at PS Mochache whose letter is said to have contributed to the loss of funds.
Kemsa board chaired by ex-Murang'a Senator Kembi Gitura appeared to throw Mochache under the bus in the Covid-19 procurements mess.
The board told the National Assembly Health Committee how Mochache wrote to the agency directing on how to procure the Covid-19 emergency supplies.
This is currently a matter under investigations.
Last year, another scandal hit the office of the deputy president William Ruto and the Ministry of defence.
The country would have lost Sh39.5 billion in a fake military arms deal allegedly negotiated by former Sports CS Rashid Echesa.
Echesa and three others are said to have already received some Sh11 million for having facilitated the deal.
If the deal succeeded, some military weapons would have been brought to the country from Poland.
The case is currently before the courts as DCI continues with investigations.
In July 2018, Director of Public Prosecution Noordin Hajji ordered the arrest of then Treasury CS Henry Rotich, PS Kamau Thugge and other senior government officials over the Kimwarer and Arror dams’ scandal.
Hajji said Rotich and his team flouted procurement rules and committed illegalities in the Arror and Kimwarer dams scandal.
As a result, a total of 28 officials and entities were to be charged.
Their arrest and arraignment put Uhuru's fight against corruption under the spotlight yet again.
The scandal also features companies that supplied items unrelated to dam construction, including Sh20 million worth of towels, carpets and tiles.
This scandal saw Rotich, the man in charge of government resources under President Uhuru Kenyatta’s regime resign.
Rotich was the first sitting Cabinet Secretary to be arrested on alleged corruption.
But the arrest added to the large pile of corruption cases pending before the courts.
About 1,000 suspects have been charged over corruption since Uhuru took over power in 2013.
Uhuru's list of shame
Uhuru, in 2015 did an unprecedentedly bold thing when he delivered his second State of the Nation Address.
Among other things, he tabled to the parliament names of persons who had been named in mega corruption deals, designations and the size of stolen or misappropriated sums.
The extraordinary annex was the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission List of Shame of allegedly corrupt Cabinet Secretaries, Principal Secretaries and 175 other public servants in top-level positions.
Uhuru ordered the over 100 public officers in the list he tabled to step aside, marking a start to the war on corruption.
Five Cabinet secretaries — Governor Charity Ngilu, then Lands CS, Michael Kamau (Transport), Felix Koskei (Agriculture), Kazungu Kambi (Labour) and Davis Chirchir (Energy) — were forced out of office.
At the moment, it appeared that the graft war would be won as soon as the cases got to court and that this would deter many from tipping their fingers into public coffers.
Uhuru then, set the stage for a culmination in the war on graft in a process that saw all three top EACC commissioners resign from their jobs.
Among the CSs who stepped aside following the tabling of the List of Shame, only former Transport CS Kamau was ever charged.
Justice John Onyiego, however, termed as ambiguous the charge that Kamau failed to stop a Sh33 million tender award for a road in Bungoma.
Ngilu is the Kitui governor, while Koskei is a member of the Judicial Service Commission on the nomination of Uhuru.
Kambi unsuccessfully ran for the Kilifi governor in 2017 and was in 2018 appointed chairman of Coast Development Authority.
Kambi is now a commissioner at the National Lands Commission.
Chirchir has not gotten any other government job but was Uhuru’s chief agent in the 2017 presidential poll.
To recap, below are some of the major corruption scandals under Uhuru’s regime.
The NCPB maize scandal (Sh1.9 billion)
In this scandal, some Sh1.9 billion was allegedly stolen in a conspiracy between the National Cereals and Produce Board officials and unscrupulous traders.
Several senior officials, including the NCPB's CEO, were sent on compulsory leaver to pave way for investigations.
NYS1 scandal (Sh1.8billion)
This is the first scandal that hit the National Youth Service under the watch of then Devolution CS Anne Waiguru.
Key suspect the alleged scandal at NYS, Josephine Kabura, implicated among others.
Waiguru, who is now Kirinyaga governor, has been fighting to clear her name in the Sh1.8 billion scandal especially after EACC revealed that Kabura lied in her affidavit.
The suspects were many, but none was convicted after courts said the prosecution lacked enough evidence to implicate the suspects.
NYS2 Scandal (Sh9billion)
The second National Youth Service scandal hit headline in 2018 after it emerged that some Sh9 billion had been stolen.
This scandal remains the biggest in the history of NYS that saw over 40 suspects summoned by DCI fo questioning.
Some of the key suspects in the scandal secured bail but investigations are ongoing.
The Afya House scandal (Sh5 billion)
The scandal well known as the Mafya House exploded at the Ministry of Health in 2016.
This is after a leaked internal audit report revealed that over Sh5 billion was allegedly stolen by senior officials at the ministry under the watch of then Health CS Cleopa Mailu and PS Nicholas Muraguri.
Investigations were launched into the alleged heist but no one was jailed or arrested.
Mailu is currently an Ambassador serving as Kenya's Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva.
Muraguri is the current Lands PS where he was also implicated in another Sh7.1 billion audit queries.
Eurobond scandal (Sh215 billion)
This came to light when opposition leader Raila Odinga blew the whistle.
Raila’s claims were then confirmed by the auditor general who said some Sh215 billion which Kenya had taken as a loan for mega development projects would not be accounted for.
The government however said the money had been used to fund various projects under ministries.
Fake gold scandal (Sh400 million)
This scandal became big news in the country after involving the Dubai royal family.
The victim of the scandal is Ali Zandi, who is the nephew of Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Emir (ruler) of the UAE.
Zandi was coned 400 million by individuals said to be prominent in government.
Kenya Power token scandal
From the frequent mass blackouts, KPLC has had its fair share of scandals under its name that almost had the entire management suspended.
The last scam on the spotlight was the Sh1 billion pre-paid token generation revenue fraud.
Investigations revealed that tech-savvy employees at the company manipulated the system to divert the State Corporation's revenue into their own pockets.
The company in May had fired 18 of its employees who were linked to the irregular pre-qualification of 350 companies in the labour and transport tender.
This came after an audit report showed the deal had seen some Sh5.4 billion lost.
NHIF scandal (Sh50 billion)
This scandal involved the National Hospital Insurance Fund and its officials with a cost of 50 billion shillings.
Investigation revealed that rogue NHIF officials colluded with hospitals to generate false medical bills.
The payment which was capitation for group life cover and last expense for civil servants, the Kenya Police Service, National Youth Service and Kenya Prisons Service since 2013 was made in premiums to NHIF by the National Treasury.
Maize scandal (Sh5 billion)
This remains the major scam that involved National Cereals and Produce Board(NCPB) top officials and traders.
This came after a section of senior officials at NCPB cheaply imported maize from Uganda and Tanzania.
The maize is said to have been sneaked in the country during the night and traders received prompt payment.
The Sh5 billion maize scandals saw PS Richard Lesiyampe and former NCPB managing director Newton Terer appear in court to answer corruption charges.
Galana Kulalu and Mwea Irrigation Scheme (Sh3.5 billion)
The much-hyped multi-billion food security project was hit by graft allegations that saw a number of senior officials of the National Irrigation Board (NIB) sent packing.
The scandal that also saw budget for the project slashed was revealed by the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority after the NIB awarded 15 irregular tenders worth Sh953 million.
The project eventually collapsed with the Sh3.5 billion disappearing in thin air.
The SGR scandal (Sh4 billion)
An audit of the famous Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) revealed how Kenyans lost more than Sh4 billion in intricate land compensation deals that oiled the 472-kilometre gravy train truck.
This was followed by another ticketing scandal that saw three Chinese arrested on allegations of attempting to bribe Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) officers with Sh500,000 to silence the matter.
The ticketing scam involved manipulating the complex booking system operated by CRBC staff to split the ticket revenues between the Chinese railway operator and the cartel of insiders.