President Uhuru Kenyatta vows to step up fight against theft

By ALLY JAMAH

Nairobi, Kenya: President Uhuru Kenyatta has vowed to up the fight against corruption in Government as part of the strategy to save the loss of public funds meant for development.

The President directed Attorney General Githu Muigai to speed up the process of developing a national policy on corruption as well as strengthen the anti-corruption laws, which have been described as “weak” by anti-graft campaigners.

“There is overwhelming empirical evidence showing that corruption undermines development. It distorts resource allocation, diverting them to the personal gain of a few individuals, leading to a skewed distribution of income and wealth,” Uhuru said during the launch of a strategic plan for the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) in Nairobi yesterday.

He added: “Corruption raises the cost of doing business; thus discouraging investment, by both local and foreign investors. With subdued investment, economic growth, job creation and poverty reduction are rendered impossible.”

The Head of State is battling to save his pet projects – the Standard Gauge Railway and laptops for Class One pupils – from collapsing amid swirling allegations of graft.

Alleged irregularity

The laptop tender was recently cancelled due to alleged irregularity in its issuance. Data from the EACC shows that last year, the anti-corruption agency had the lowest number of completed investigations in the last four years.

Last year, the commission completed 56 investigations compared to 236 in 2012 and 134 in 2011.

In 2010, they completed 107 investigations.

As regards its recommendations to prosecute to the Director of Public Prosecutions, 26 files were accepted last year, compared to 54 in 2012, 95 in 2011 and 75 in 2010.

Statistics also reveal that last year, the anti-corruption agency traced assets worth Sh16.3 billion and averted loss of Sh55 billion of public funds for the last four years.

EACC Chairman Mumo Matemu said they recently recovered Sh2 billion worth of public land that had irregularly got into the hands of private developers, including Uhuru Gardens in Mombasa.