What EACC hopes to achieve in next five years

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission is set to unveil a new 5-Year Strategic Plan at the Kenya International Convention Centre.

The plan, which covers the period 2023- 2028,  will act as a guide in the execution of the Commission's mandate.

This is in its role as the lead agency in the fight against corruption and unethical conduct in the country.

The launch will be presided over by the Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi, who will deliver the keynote address.

The EACC Strategic Plan which was developed through a national multi-sectoral consultative process, has drawn heavily from current corruption trends and patterns.

It has also drawn lessons learnt from previous anti-corruption interventions under the Strategic Plan 2018-2023, which lapsed on June 30.

The plan is supported by four key pillars derived from the Commission's mandate.

They include law enforcement, promotion of ethics and integrity, prevention of corruption and unethical practices, and education, training and public awareness.

Under law enforcement, the plan seeks to address the prevalence of corruption and unethical conduct in the country, the backlog of cases and adverse judicial decisions in anti-corruption and ethics cases.

Other strategic issues under the mandate are inadequate compliance with the requirements of the Declaration of Income Assets and Liabilities and inadequate mechanisms for managing preserved and recovered assets.

In the second pillar of promotion of ethics and integrity, EACC notes that some of the issues needing solving include the inadequate legal and regulatory framework for enforcement of Chapter Six of the Constitution, Leadership and Integrity Act, EACC Act, POEA and other complementary legislation.

Issues under prevention of corruption and unethical practices are inadequate implementation of Bribery Act requirements, weak link between research evidence and policy actions and inadequate research on emerging issues of corruption and unethical conduct.

Under education, training and public awareness, the Commission discovered issues including the prevalence of corruption and unethical conduct in the country, public apathy in the fight against corruption, lack of training infrastructure for the Academy and inadequate positive role modelling.

The EACC Strategic Plan is anchored on the country's development agenda as outlined in various national legal and policy documents including Vision 2030 and National Ethics and Anti-Corruption Policy.

It also includes commitments including the United Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), Africa Union Agenda 2063 and United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDG) where it has singled out Goal 16.

The goals are the promotion of peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, the provision of access to justice for all and building effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.

"In particular, Target 16.5 aims to substantially reduce corruption and bribery of all their forms," EACC said.

Further, the five-year plan contains commitments borrowed from the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption, East Africa Community Vision 2050, the Constitution of Kenya, the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda and the Fourth Medium Term Plan.

The fourth medium-term plan 2023- 2027, seeks to enhance leadership, ethics and integrity programmes through a nationwide Anti-Corruption awareness campaign and strengthening assets tracking and recovery, among others.

The Strategic Plan seeks to effectively deter and punish corruption and unethical practices,  promote ethics and integrity, and improve institutional accountability in public and private sectors.

Further, it is also after increasing public involvement in the fight against corruption and unethical practices, enhancing cooperation, collaboration and coordination in the fight against corruption and unethical practices, and improving organisational efficiency and effectiveness.