Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta has said top officials working for his government will have to undergo a lie detector test as part of the country’s crackdown on corruption.
While addressing crowds during the celebrations of 55 years since Kenya attained internal self-rule, the president said the test which will be used to determine employee “integrity” was just one of the planned measures to deal with the corruption menace.
“Let me now mention just one part of a raft of measures that we intend to implement to tackle corruption,” he said.
“As an initial step, all heads of procurement and accounts in government ministries, departments [and] agencies… will undergo fresh vetting, including polygraph testing to determine their integrity and suitability.
This comes after a revelation of the loss of 8 billion Kenyan shilling ($78m) from a government agency even before the 2015 scandal where $791,000 got lost from the same organization is yet to be solved.
Some 40 civil servants are facing charges over the alleged theft.
The corruption scandal also revealed how suppliers who had not been paid saw funds allegedly stolen via the National Youth Service (NYS) through fake invoices and multiple payments.
The NYS is part of President Kenyatta’s plan to address youth unemployment but the investigation into the organization has been seen as a blow to the pledge he made when he elected in 2013 to root out corruption.
“Those who fail the vetting will stand suspended,” he added.
