Kenya has again posted a worrying trend of continuing looting of public resources emerging one of the worst performers in the fight against corruption globally, a new study has revealed.
According to global Corruption Perception Index (CPI) released yesterday by Transparency International in Nairobi, Kenya has maintained a poor score of 25 out of 100 (with zero perceived to be highly corrupt and 100 very clean), same score as last year’s.
Among the 168 countries where the study was carried out, Kenya emerged number 139 despite the various initiatives taken by President Uhuru Kenyatta in 2015 to fight high-profile graft in his government including asking five Cabinet secretaries to step aside over corruption-related claims in their dockets.
Transparency International Kenya executive director Samwel Kimeu while releasing the study findings said the many efforts in combating crime have not bore fruit because not a single case has led to prosecution or recovery of stolen cash.
He said to win the war against embedded graft in the country, Kenya must start punishing the high-profile offenders and to recover the loot by attaching their properties.
“Kenya had a score of 27 in 2013 and 2012, demonstrating the efforts to tackle corruption have borne little results,” said Kimeu. In the region, Rwanda led the pack scoring 54 and ranking 44 globally followed by Tanzania which scored 30 and positioned 117 out of 168. Kenya and Uganda tied at number 139 with each scoring a paltry 25 lower than the global average of 43.
Kenya’s poor performance in combating graft comes in the backdrop of a stinging bribery claim putting into sharp focus the institution of Supreme Court, the highest court in the land, where judge Philip Tonui is alleged, in a sworn affidavit, to have received Sh200 million bribe from Nairobi governor Evans Kidero to influence the outcome of his election petition.
The report also buttresses the findings of the Kenya Youth Survey Report released last week where 35 per cent of the country’s youth admitted they would easily give or take bribes if the situation presents itself.
In the corruption index released yesterday, Denmark for the second year in a row emerged as the least corrupt country in the world with a score of 91. Finland, Sweden, New Zealand, Netherlands and Norway made it to the top five list of the world’s less corrupt countries.
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