Civil society organisations have a responsibility to champion good governance, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission has said.
The Commission urged the media to take advantage of their oversight role in governance and strive to expose and stigmatise corrupt conduct.
“They should also integrate integrity in their programming and shape narratives that advance the fight against corruption,” EACC said.
Speaking on Tuesday during the EACC Strategic Plan launch, agency’s Chairperson David Oginde called on the clergy to preach against corruption.
He said even though a large population of Kenyans are religious, that is not being reflected in the fight against corruption.
“Kenya as a country is religious. But our religious beliefs do not mirror our daily lives,” he said.
The Commission said religious organisations should rebuke corruption as a sin and use their platforms to strengthen the moral fabric through appropriate religious teachings.
The public has also been called to be active participants in the fight against corruption.
“Citizens have an important responsibility in the management of their affairs and should, therefore, be active participants in the fight against corruption,” EACC said.
“They should uphold integrity, demand accountability from public officials and proactively participate in governance processes.”
On Tuesday, EACC revealed some of the challenges it faces in the course of executing its mandate.
EACC outlined public apathy in fighting corruption as something that needs to be resolved.
Oginde said they were having challenges from political parties accusing them of targeting them, especially when one of their party members was implicated in alleged graft.
“When a politician is being questioned, leave alone being arrested, just being questioned about possibilities of engaging in corruption, that political party rises and says ‘we’re being targeted’,” he said.
The chairperson urged political parties to allow EACC to do their job, and the suspect to answer for the allegations before them.
“Let us not politicise the war against corruption. We will not succeed. Zero tolerance means that we will not entertain corrupt people in our tribes, parties and any sector of our society,” Oginde said.
He also listed the slow investment of processes that involve a lot of challenges in financial and human resource capacity.
Oginde added that another obstacle is a lack of understanding of the impact of corruption on citizens.
Bishop Oginde urged the media to help create awareness of the same.
“It needs to be brought to light, especially by our media. Just educate people on the connection between corruption and the challenges we face as a country,” he said.
He said the money lost through corruption can be used to solve the issue of unemployment in the country by providing a steady flow of salaries. BY THE STAR