Transparency International (TI) has called for tough fines for individuals found guilty of corruption in bid to bolster the fight against corruption in the country.
TI Kenya Executive Director Samuel Kimeu decried the few convictions of suspects charged with corruption-related crimes, saying stringent punishment is the only recourse to deter theft of public money.
“There are a number of cases documented by our official agencies about huge amounts of money that has been stolen but …there are few convictions far between,” said Mr Kimeu on Monday.
Mr Kimeu urged anti-graft agencies to recover all the stolen money, freeze the accounts of corruption suspects and vet all public officers.
LIFESTYLE AUDIT
He said the TI Kenya supports the lifestyle audit directive issued by President Uhuru Kenyatta, adding that it should be complemented by a robust wealth declaration system for routine asset disclosure in line with section 26(1) of the Public Officers Ethics Act:
“Every public officer shall, once every two years prescribed by section 27, submit to the responsible Commission for the public officer a declaration of the income, assets and liabilities of himself, his spouse or spouses and his dependent children under the age of 18 years.”
“Lifestyle audits should be conducted on all public officers. It is time to enforce compliance with the law and to put in place mechanisms, aided by technology, for easy processing and follow up of wealth declarations,” he said.
WEAK LINKS
Mr Kimeu also called for the tightening of weak links in the investigative, prosecutorial and enforcement agencies, stating that the numerous corruption scandals in the recent past have put focus on the effectiveness of anti-corruption agencies and the political leadership in the fight against graft.
“TI Kenya welcomes the efforts put in response to the numerous corruption scandals. We hope that this time, unlike what we are used to, there will be serious follow up to ensure that those involved are punished in accordance with the rule of law,” he said.
Mr Kimeu also called for establishment of an elaborate vetting framework targeting all public officers in procurement, accounting and the approval chain.
“While we acknowledge that it is a good move to vet all procurement heads, it is important to note that they are not solely liable for corruption in public institutions,” he said.