Bribery, favouritism, nepotism and embezzlement remain the most prevalent forms of corruption in the counties, a survey has shown.
Procurement irregularities, abuse of office, conflict of interest and shoddy implementation of projects follow in the order of the most prevalent forms of graft in the counties.
The survey by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission show procurement, finance, public service board, roads and public works are the county governments’ departments that are most prone to corruption.
The survey was done between April and June last year and covered 39 of the 47 counties, with 4,965 county employees being interviewed. The remaining counties: Garissa, Wajir, Mandera, Lamu, Tana River, Samburu, Marsabit and Turkana were not surveyed because of insecurity.
Of those interviewed, 20 per cent said the counties are highly corrupt, 36 per cent said they are moderately corrupt, while 35 per cent said they are lowly corrupt.
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The report- Corruption and Ethics in Devolved Services: County Public Officers’ Experiences, 2015 show that fear of victimisation, lack of proper organisational structures and corruption being a culture are the main challenges faced in the fight against graft.
On average, county employees in roads and public works departments received the largest amount of bribes of up to Sh150,000.
The employees cited poor remuneration, lack of professional ethics and culture as the main reasons they took bribes.
The report said most employees at the counties believe EACC was effective in the fight against corruption.
It recommends the development and implementation of anti-bribery compliance policy to curb incidences of bribery in the counties and ensure value for money in road construction and other infrastructure.
Vehicle misuse
Further it recommends the enhancement of anti-corruption mechanisms in county governments, ensuring transparency and accountability in public procurement and establishment of a policy framework to encourage public participation in budget making.
For instance, the report says in Narok, 70 per cent of staff are guilty of lateness. Misuse of county vehicles, bribery, sidestepping the integrated financial management system, forging cheques and bribery of public service board are also prevalent here.
In Uasin Gishu, lack of documents in land record management, theft of revenue in ticketing of motorbikes and taxis and loss of revenue in slaughterhouses are common.
