Transport set to gain big as corruption fight goes digital

Transport sector revenue is usually lost to rogue policemen and regulatory agency officers who ask for bribes and levy illegal fines. FOTOSEARCH 

By STELLAR MURUMBA, smurumba@ke.nationmedia.com

In Summary

• The transport sector will be among the top beneficiaries as the State moves to expand its ICT platforms to enable citizens report corruption on the spot.
• As part of its improved diplomatic ties with the US, Kenya has committed to leverage its electronic platforms to fight the vice through which truckers each lose Sh500,000 annually.
• The US has in the meantime asked Kenya to overhaul its whistleblower legislation.

The transport sector will be among the top beneficiaries as the State moves to expand its ICT platforms to enable citizens report corruption on the spot.

As part of its improved diplomatic ties with the US, Kenya has committed to leverage its electronic platforms to fight the vice through which truckers each lose Sh500,000 annually.

The money is usually lost to rogue policemen and regulatory agency officers who ask for bribes and levy illegal fines.

In a commitment that President Uhuru Kenyatta has made directly to his US counterpart, Barack Obama, Kenya will finalise its public complaints and corruption reporting web portal by December.

“Kenya also commits to publishing the data regarding the complaints it receives on this and other corruption-reporting websites, broken down by sector and geographic area, along with its response,” reads a White House statement posted on its website.

President Obama visited Kenya in late July. During the visit, President Kenyatta pledged to consult widely on the development of various digital programmes that will enable State agencies to catch corrupt individuals.

The US has in the meantime asked Kenya to overhaul its whistleblower legislation.

The communique, says Mr Kenyatta, also committed to deepen ongoing interventions, such as progressively moving all in-bound payments on the government’s digital ePayments platform while widening the use of the iTax and Single Window platforms.

“The Government of Kenya plans to fast track the rollout of digitisation of government services under eGovernment to complement the ongoing ePayment programme. It also commits to complete the digitisation of lands, births, and death records by July 2016, and prioritise business registration records together with other highly demanded public records starting August 2016.”

The communique says Kenya will integrate all government financial systems, augmenting the audit and security components to boost integrity.

It says Kenya is also rolling out an enhanced coordinated port operations programme under the Border Control and Operations Coordination.

The Framework to operationalise on a Single Customs Territory (SCT) at the border ports, developed by the TradeMark East Africa (TMEA), has been adopted by the East African states to reduce bribery.

“The framework operates to enhance ICT manpower to oversee the development of a robust digital programme to reduce cases of corruption during the processing and clearance of trade related documentation,” TMEA CEO Frank Matsaert said last week.

Mr Matsaert added that the SCT framework is guided by free circulation of goods, revenue management and legal institutional framework, and operational instruments (outlining clearance processes in custom and other agencies).

In the deal with US, Kenya committed to expand its electronic procurement programme “to eliminate corruption in the awarding of contracts and licences.”