Kenya has intensified the war against corruption amid public outcry over pilfering in the public sector that has undermined efforts to eradicate poverty, hunger, unemployment and crime.
President Uhuru Kenyatta’s vow to spare no individual in his quest to eradicate graft has started paying off as senior government officials accused of perpetrating the vice are being prosecuted.
Experts agree that reducing or hopefully, eliminating corruption will not only secure an honorable legacy for President Kenyatta but also improve Kenya’s image in the eyes of multilateral lenders and investors.
Tony Watima, a Nairobi-based financial analyst said that endemic corruption was a threat to Kenya’s economic growth, political stability and social cohesion hence the need to adopt deterrent measures like lengthy prison terms for offenders alongside seizure of assets acquired through illegal means.
Kenyans from all walks of life want the government to take decisive action against graft that is responsible for 30 percent loss to the annual budget.
The recent arrest and prosecution of treasury cabinet secretary Henry Rotich and 26 other officials over dams’ scandal signaled renewed commitment by the government to fight graft.
Noordin Haji, director of Kenya’s public prosecutions, on July 22 ordered the arrest of Rotich and senior treasury officials for inflating the cost of constructing two dams in Elgeyo Marakwet County that is located in the northwestern part of the country.
Elsewhere, anti-graft detectives early this week arrested the governor of central Kenya county of Kiambu, Ferdinand Waititu, his wife and several officials over irregular tendering and conflict of interest.
The first-term governor in the endowed county neighboring Nairobi is said to have awarded contracts for the construction of a feeder road to a company owned by his proxies.
A high court ruling last week dealt a blow to governors facing trials over corruption-related charges by declaring they should step aside in line with a clause in the constitution that raises the bar on integrity for public servants.
And Kenyatta recently appointed an acting cabinet secretary for the national treasury as anti-graft sleuths train their guns on other senior state officials accused of financial impropriety.
