The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) will embark on a lifestyle audit of top county officials across the country from next week.
Vice chairperson Sophia Lepuchirit told a Senate committee that the exercise will kick off in Nyeri. She said EACC will freeze bank accounts and repossess property of those unable to prove the source of their wealth.
“Counties have become corruption dens. This has necessitated the audit to establish how the officers have managed to create so much wealth in such a short time,” she said.
She told the Senate Legal Affairs and Human Rights committee that the commission has learnt that majority of top and junior county officials were living beyond their means.
“We have established that some of the county officials had acquired immense wealth raging from mansions, top of the range vehicles and huge chunks of land, all this allegedly bought using their salaries and allowances,” said Lepuchirit.
The commission told the Amos Wako-led committee that some governors were living beyond their means. “A governor is currently constructing a state house-like mansion while another recently purchased a chopper. We will be asking them to explain how they have acquired their wealth,” said the commission vice chairperson.
EACC chief executive Halakhe Waqo, however, expressed concern that the anti-graft agency might not achieve much. He appeared to blame the courts for allegedly being an impediment in the fight against corruption.
The courts, Waqo said, has in some cases meted lenient sentences which would not deter culprits from engaging in graft. Politicisation of corruption and integrity issues, according to Waqo, was derailing the commission’s work.
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