Survey: EACC secured one conviction out of 5,551 cases

Only one person was convicted of corruption related charges in 2015, of 5,551 cases the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) handled last year.

According to the Economic Survey 2016, data gleaned from EACC and Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) in 2014/15, shows that from the 5,551 cases the EACC investigated it conveyed 117 cases to ODPP.

However, the latter only succeeded in obtaining one conviction, a fact that must have angered President Uhuru Kenyatta.

On Wednesday, during the State House Summit on Accountability, a frustrated President Kenyatta lashed out at key public agencies for frustrating him in the fight against graft.

He singled out the ODPP, the Judiciary, Auditor General, Directorate of Criminal Investigation and the office of the Attorney General for their lackluster approach in the war against corruption.

“When it comes to graft whose role is it? Who is responsible? Corruption is the issue that has frustrated me the most. But I ask, show me any administration since Independence that has taken action like I have done?” he posed.

But while Kenyatta’s government might have put in effort in the war against graft, the energy might have been directed to the wrong target.

According to the survey in 2010/11 during President Kibaki’s tenure, of 2,816 cases investigated by the EACC the DPP obtained 25 convictions.

This was out of 136 cases the ODPP received from the EACC for prosecution in 2010/2011, which translated into one conviction for every five cases it received.

There were eight convictions in 2011/12 with the ODPP managing to obtain 70 convictions from 70 cases it had received from EACC.

While 395 cases were terminated out of 2,747 that the EACC was investigating.

The survey does not give cases that ODPP prosecuted and those which it dropped for lack of sufficient evidence.

Cases forwarded to the ODPP and convictions obtained have since 2010 been going down, even as cases under the radar of EACC have continued to go up.

In 2013/14, the ODPP was able to obtain two convictions, from 68 cases that it received from EACC.

In 2014/15, there were about 2,747 being investigated, up from 1,950 in 2013/14.

But to some people, the President might simply be shifting the blame after failing to stamp his authority in the fight against corruption.