Transparency International Kenya executive director Samuel Kimeu. Kenya
has scored poorly in the new global corruption index report released by
TI on January 27, 2016 ranking it among the worst performers. PHOTO |
FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
Kenya has once again been ranked among the most corrupt
countries in the world, with the newest Transparency International (TI)
report ranking it at position 139 out of 168 countries.
According
to the 2015 Corruption Perception Index released by TI on Wednesday,
Kenya retained the same score, 25 points of a possible 100, it had in
2014.
TI
blamed Kenya’s continued dismal performance on the incompetence and
ineffectiveness of anti-corruption agencies, saying that the failure to
punish individuals implicated in graft has been a major stumbling block.
“The
Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, the Department of Public
Prosecution and the Judiciary all bear collective responsibility for
high corruption levels in the country. These three departments are
responsible for investigating, prosecuting and adjudicating corruption
cases and they have failed to deliver,” said TI Kenya Executive Director
Samuel Kimeu.
Mr
Kimeu added that the failure to recover assets acquired through
dishonest means has also contributed to an unabashed culture of
corruption in the country.
The
anti-corruption report also attributed Kenya’s poor ranking on a
shrinking media space, lack of public access to information and a
Judiciary that is not independent.
REGIONAL PERFORMANCE
Kenya
had the same score as Uganda but performed worse than its neighbours
Rwanda and Tanzania who scored 54 and 30 points respectively.
Burundi came last in the region with a score of 21 points.
The best performing countries in the world remain the Nordic countries led by Denmark with an index of 91.
Finland came second at 90 points, followed by Sweden and New Zealand with 89 and 88 points respectively.
The
reports listed war-torn Somalia and the reclusive North Korea the worst
performers, each with 8 points, and appearing at the bottom of the
rankings.
Although President Uhuru
Kenyatta has continually declared a “zero tolerance” war on graft, going
as far firing cabinet secretaries named in corruption allegations,
there has been little in the way of convictions of corrupt individuals.
Indeed,
despite a flurry of investigations and arrests of high profile
individuals named in corruption allegations, the last time such
individuals were convicted and jailed was in 2012 when the former Kenya
Tourism Board managing director Achieng’ Ong’onga and former Tourism
Principal Secretary Rebecca Nabutola were sent to prison for up to four
years each for defrauding the ministry.
Even
then, they served for a little more than two months before they were
freed on bail pending the hearing of their cases at the Court of Appeal.
During
a meeting with the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee last Monday,
Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko said that the fastest it
takes to take a corruption case through the courts is five years.
“There
is a trend by high profile individuals to stall cases against them by
making applications to the High Court and this has been a major
stumbling block,” he said.
He told
the committee that 300 individuals have been arraigned on
corruption-related cases arising from the so-called list of shame
presented to Parliament by the President last year.
According
to Mr Tobiko, his office has in the past six years taken to court
several high profile individuals including six former cabinet
secretaries, three senators, eight for principal secretaries and 12
Members of Parliament. Others include 18 heads of parastatals, four
governors and three county speakers.
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