EACC REPORT SHOWS BRIBERY HAS INCREASED ‘SHARPLY’

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has published its annual report for 2016/2017. The good news is that part of Kenya’s economy is booming. The bad news is that it’s the corruption sector that’s on the rise!

According to the EACC,the average bribes rendered in Kenya rose to Sh7,801.05 in 2016, showing a hefty 25 per cent increase from Sh5,568.58 in 2015.

Within Kenya’s corruption sector it has been the market for tenders that has seen the most robust increase, with the average bribe paid (or is that ‘consultancy fee?) rising to an average of Sh196,987.82 in 2016, up from a measly Sh63, 687.39 for the year before.

But with the high levels of unemployment in the country, particularly among young Kenyans, it is perhaps little surprising that the price paid in the scramble to procure a good job, has also shown a marked increased.

MORE KENYANS ASKING FOR A BRIBE

The percentage of people paying a bribe has also increased.

The EACC estimates that in 2015 some 38 per cent of Kenyans paid a bribe but in 2016 this rose to 46 per cent.

No one area is more corrupt than another, the EACC suggests, with corruption and “unethical conduct” rising across all 47 of the country’s counties. So good news for devolution.

The EACC, however, have been combating corruption.

In 2016/17 the EACC received 8,044 complaints of corrupt behaviour, up from 7,929 in the previous year. Of the 8,044 filed complaints the EACC took up 3,735 of them.

The Kenya Forum has as yet been unable to to ascertain how many of these complaints resulted in a conviction but the figures for 2015/16 might give an indication of how successful the EACC have been.

In 2015/16 the EACC received 5,551 complaints of corruption and unethical behaviour. Of these they sent 117 to the Office of the Director  of Public Prosecutions. This resulted in just one (1) conviction…